End Of Our Worlds? Not today
by DiceVolti
Summary: It's been years since Oswald saw his little brother Mickey. He has been busy as a monster hunter along with his mate, Ortensia. He occasionally had contact with Donald, Goofy and the other folks but he hasn't heard of Mickey. On a sunny day, news reaches out that a gate opened up in a far country in another world, releasing monsters such as vampires, etc. Rated M 4future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

It's been years since Oswald saw his little brother Mickey. He has been busy as a monster hunter along with his mate, Ortensia. He occasionally had contact with Donald, Goofy and the other folks but he hasn't heard of Mickey. On a sunny day, news reaches out that a gate leading to another dimension opened up in a far country in another world, releasing monsters such as vampires, demons, werewolves and more. Oswald decides to rally his friends Goofy and Donald to travel to the gate and hopefully find Mickey, his little bro on the way. Little did he know that this travel would turn into a fantastic adventure filled with adrenaline rush and more…

A story set into a Steampunk adventure mixing magic, medieval weapons and guns. It will probably take some times to update as I'm really busy, however, it's a story I dream of almost every day.

Feedback greatly appreciate as it's my second attempt at writing stories.

 **Chapter 01**

It is a sunny, cloudless day in Traverse Town. The town itself is really busy, everybody is enjoying the coziness of the weather and were shopping, having some family time, you know…normal citizen activities. Same thing for the two gunmen Donald and Goofy hanging around as buddies in the market area. The streets were crowded but it didn't stop them from walking toward their destination.

" _Hey Goofy, do you know why Oswald called us so urgently? I was having blast exploding those targets this morning."_ Asked Donald with a touch of anxiety in his voice. Goofy visibly cringe at the pun and answers.

" _I don't know why, but you know him, probably invented a new weapon for his own arsenal or something, he loves sharing what he discovers and creates."_ Goofy answers ending his sentence with his signature 'Ah Yuk' sound. In his younger days, he hated that sound but now, he embraces that sound as his own and he is proud of it.

" _Yeah, he is quite the inventor I must say. His creations always work and somehow reaches the market. I'm not surprised he is doing well in business but he did tell me that he wanted to go on a hiatus and be a full monster hunter. I guess I can understand that."_ They turn right at a crossroad taking them out of the market area to a modest suburb full of small mansions.

" _Mhm indeed._ " Goofy reflected as they both stride along. At one point, they arrive in front of a wide tall gate, already opened leading up in a beautiful garden full of flowers of multiple bright colors. The mansion sitting in the middle of all those flowers wasn't as big you would think with such a garden but nonetheless, it still fitted the charm and ambience. You could say it was modest, not the most expensive kind of a mansion. The path leads straight to the front door of the mansion which opens wide the moment the duo is at arm length from it, received by Oswald, smiling like a child.

" _Well hello there, you guys sure took your time._ " Oswald joked as he hugs his friends. " _Come in, come in. I have some stuffs that I want to show you. I also have to talk about somethings with you seriously._ "

Oswald leads them inside to a large corridor with a surprisingly lack of ornaments or paintings on the walls. It isn't until they reach the main room (also used as the dining room) that the eye-candies settles in in a wonderful display. The walls were white and slightly reflective, the small ornaments on the walls and ceiling were made of bronze. There are three huge paintings side by side on the opposite wall of the room entrance.

The further one on the left shows Oswald and Mickey back to back, both looking upward. They looked younger on it, seven, eight or even ten years younger? The second and middle painting shows Oswald, Donald and Goofy wearing similar uniform while they were in a monster hunter academy that covered the teachings on guns and medieval weapons. That made any hunter versatile on the battlefield. The last painting is more or less the same as the last one but Ortensia was also in the mix and they had different uniforms, a full squad in their early active days. The room also gave access to a small veranda which had a door to go outside.

Everybody was and still is captivated by those paintings. It holds so much nostalgia, memories and it is holds ' _chapters_ ' of their lives. Donald and Goofy watch those paintings as they walk by and are interrupted by Oswald.

" _Check this crossbow guys_ " Oswald grabs the weapon with his hands. The weapon is as big as his arms and weight enough to hinder your movements. " _Made this baby this month, it can shoot a bit more then 70 yards with deadly effects. I had some issues balancing weights and movement speed but I found something that should do._ ". He grabs a bolt from the crossbow's quiver " _those bolts are normal, nothing special. I just made some different ones with different materials such as gold, silver and wood to test them out. Range changes drastically but it still covers enough ground to be safe._ ".

Oswald hands the weapon to Goofy carefully so that the canine gets used to the weight and size. Goofy gets the weapon into position and Donald rushes to him to make sure there isn't any bolt readied. Knowing how clumsy Goofy is sometimes, he learned that precaution has to be taken every time for safety purposes. Then Donald has his turn and he has a harder time getting in position. The duck quacked gibberish while trying to find his balance. Goofy and Oswald both raises their hands trying to hide their laughter.

" _Just put it on the table Donald and let's go outside, I have something on mind that I need to share._ " Oswald says thoughtfully. "You know" he begins while opening the veranda door " _I've been thinking about going back into business, the danger, the adrenaline rush…I miss this, I am wondering if you guys would like to come with me, you know? Like a few years ago, bring the squad back together. Ortensia is already in._ ". Goofy hummes quietly, thinking about how his life as a hunter was and how his life is right now. He was happy about his current lifestyle and he didn't think that he would miss it until someone would bring it up.

" _I guess i never thought about it. I keep training and such but I never thought about going in action again. I don't know…it could be good, I mean, I have nothing to lose right now._ " The canine admits.

" _Hey! Stop saying what I'm thinking. It's irritating_ " Donald quacks while giving a friendly jab with his elbow in Goofy's side. " _I guess I cannot add much to that except that if this mean traveling a lot I'm so in. Visiting places, taking quests, I'm so in_."

" _Well, have I another reason for this decision. I haven't heard of my little bro in a very long time. I do know he is alive because I would have received something for sure. It's been at least eight years, eight long years, it's agonizing. The last news I got from him was seven years ago when he sent us a letter saying he graduated from that University of Spell and Enchantment and then, nothing. I wonder what happened to him."._ Oswald muses remembering waking up on Mickey's birthday and having the realization that his little bro wasn't with him, nor near him. " _So? What do you guys think about that? I don't know what I'll find at the end but…I want answers._ "

Donald answers swiftly " _Count me in._ " and Goofy follows shortly with " _I won't stay here any longer and just watch you guys leave. I'm coming as well_.".

Oswald visibly relax and sigh in relieves. He is happy, happy to have companions by his side for this upcoming adventure through unknown territories. " _Ortensia will be happy to hear it. We made a great team back then and it's great to know we got each other's back._ ". The trio walk back inside through the veranda, Donald closes the door behind them.

Noise could be heard in the main corridor as someone closes the door " _I'm home._ " says a feminine voice.

" _Well? how was your shopping time?_ " Oswald asks while Ortensia's steps are becoming louder by the seconds.

" _Good I also grabbed the newspaper while at was at it. It was a pain to walk in the market…oh Goofy! Donald! Great to see you guys here, how you guys are doing?_ " Ortensia's face lit up as she hugs them both one at a time.

" _Not to bad, pretty pumped actually._ " Donald responds while Goofy just nods in approval.

" _They accepted to come with us. The squad is back in town._ " The bunny grinned.

" _Great, I'm so happy and glad to hear that. Sorry to bomb the good mood but I read some news that are pretty nasty._ " Ortensia sits down on a chair and shows the newspaper. Sure enough, on the front page it is written **'Spikes of vampires, werewolves and demons in the region End Of Sea'.** " _This is not normal. A few people who lives there claimed that a gate has been opened and some even says that they saw The Horned King along with Maleficent there. If it's true then this is going to be some critical times. We even might have a war happening._ "

All three scoots behind Ortensia to read the rest of the news.

" _We all know that they tried taking over those lands and failed spectacularly centuries ago, I thought they were myths…_ " Donald mumbles " _It's in another world but if those two opened up a portal there they might be able to open one in any other worlds._ "

Goofy then points to a small paragraph that stipulates: **"Please be very careful as vampires can travel afar faster. Beware of your surroundings and any strange behaviors or disappearance should be reported immediately. Any squad willing to help are welcome to do so."**

" _Sheesh, they aren't joking around at all._ " Oswald massage his right ear for a few moments. " _You know, they need help, let's go and help then. I suggest we leave in two days, first for my brother's academy, I want to get some info of where he might be then let's book to End Of Sea. Meeting here in the morning._ "

All of them nod.

" _Right, I'm going to start packing then and either way, if we don't go, we will be sent there as reinforcement, might as well be on our way. See you in two days then._ " Goofy answers while leaving, Donald following him closely.

Ortensia added " _Going to prep up with food and utensils for camping…just in case. You take care of weapons and ammos dear._ "

The bunny gives a last glance to the painting of himself and Mickey with a feeling of hope and fear at the same time.

' _I hope you are ok bro, wherever you are.'_ Oswald though as his friends leaves the house, fueled with determination for their upcoming adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02**

The next day, Oswald wakes up early with a yawn and quickly comes to the realization of his last day in his house before the journey that awaits him and his companions. Ortensia is still sleeping right next to him, silently and peacefully. Looks like she isn't stressed at all for what is to come.

' _good'_ he thought at least it will be a bit easier to prepare and leave. Hopping out of bed, he dresses up and groggily walks downstairs to make himself some coffee, bacon and eggs to get his beloved wife and him in shape for the long day of preparation. While waiting for his coffee to be ready, the bunny looks around in the room as to take in every detail before a long trip. ' _I'll come back. I know I will._ ' He keeps reminding himself making it a promise to himself. ' _I'll come back…with everyone._ '. He closes his eyes and let the sent of coffee fill his nostrils.

Knowing that his coffee is finally ready, he fills a mug, add two spoons of sugar and milk before seeping a bit of the hot liquid. A feeling of discomfort starts to settle in as he walks around in his house, like the house didn't want him to leave and every room was begging him to stay in the cozy comfort between those walls, under a safe roof. He sips another gulp of his coffee, fighting the urge to cry? Sigh? Stay? He can't pinpoint what the feeling is but one thing for sure is that he wants to find his brother and that is enough to get himself moving forward, ignoring the previous feeling. Mickey could be anywhere, in any world. He could be injured or fine, who knows?

Oswald realizes that his quest might be harder and take way longer then he ever anticipated. Maybe he will leave the squad and look for his little bro alone and send his friends to investigate the gate and help fellows in End Of Sea? He couldn't really answer those questions…yet. He sips another bit of his coffee and blinks twice at what he is watching. He is in the dining room, glancing at the painting of him and his brother again. He was not aware walking to the room at all. ' _Well…I.i hope to find answers and find you Mickey. I miss you a lot._ '. Eight years, eight years passed and Oswald has only now the epiphany of how long this is. He was not worried before but now…now he wanders why he wasn't worrying before now. ' _This is insane, absolutely insane._ ' He stares at the painting, wide-eyed.

A few minutes later, he finally manages to get his eyes out of the picture and walks in a room that he transformed into his workshop. Really spacious and well lit by the sun. Everything was a mess, drawings of his projects were scattered on the floor or pinned on the walls. Ortensia always scolded him for this room being so messy but he didn't mind, he never did, he could and still can find everything he need in this mess. The bunny walks carefully to his desk and places his mug on it while his other hand reaches under the desk for a small button. A small *click* can be heard before the wall on his right rumbles for a few seconds. The outline of a door can be now seen. Oswald always like the idea of having a secret room for his collection of weapons and armors. He pushes the door which doesn't give any resistance and finds the light switch on his right. The room was clean, dry and filled with weapons of any kind ranging from a dagger to a flipping canon. He is quite the inventor.

He then walks toward the armor section and one gets his attention. It's a dark green long-sleeve shirt and black pants made out of tissue. Over it, there is a black chest, back and shoulder plates made out of leather and same for his calves' protection and shoes. As for a head wear, a pair of goggles did the trick. The armor looked nice and was very light. Oswald tries it out and walks around the room to see how comfortable it is. Perfect. Just like he likes it, not too tight and not loose. Movement is good, running will do just fine as well. Now the weapons, he decides to go with what he is really used to you know…use on a regular basis, dual hand gun pistols, a pair of daggers and his massive crossbow on his back. Definitely ready for anything for sure with that. Deciding that he is done here, the lucky rabbit walks out of his secret room leaving it open for later. He finds Ortensia already packing the most important things needed for their trip.

" _Good morning hun, slept well?_ " Oswald grabs her from behind, making her jump in the process.

" _Jeezus Ossy, I told so many times not to do that._ " She smiles recovering from her frightened state. " _I slept well. Well well, look at you. Already on the roll I see? Such a handsome rabbit ready for some actions._ " She says while scanning her husband. " _Hold your horses boy, today is all about packing and making sure that everyone knows what to take with them. We have to travel ridiculously light you know unless we buy some multi-dimensional backpacks that cost like hell._ "

" _I guess I could get one for each one of us. It is going to be a very long journey after all, so we will use them a lot. I'll drop Goofy's and Donald's house right now to let them know on my way to the shops_." Oswald offers before placing a gently kiss on her cheeks.

" _That would be lovely dear but don't forget, it's only 8:20 AM right now, they must be only waking up right now._ " She grins and returns the kiss. " _I'll make the breakfast while you are on your way._ "

Oswald walks back to his room and dresses up in his normal clothes which are just a long-sleeve, white collared shirt and black pants. He double checks for his wallet and once everything is set, he puts on his shoes and heads to his friend's house.

At the marketplace, Oswald enters a shop specialized in enchanted items. He quickly finds the bag sections and finds exactly what he needs and looks at the price, he swears a heart attack has never been that close in his life. " _ **10,000 COINS FOR ONE BAG!?**_ " his eyes becoming as big as table plates. " _ **those bags are enchanted and can hold anything in it that's for sure, but at that price?**_ " he grabs four of those and heads to the counter to pay up. What he does not expect however is the awesome promotion of two bags bought two are offered. That is sure a relief. He quickly moves out of the market and heads straight to Goofy's house first as it is the closest.

Goofy's house is decent. Wherever he was asked why he would choose this house, he would simply respond with the same answer: "it's all I need. Cozy enough and spacious enough."… clever answer. Oswald rings the bell and waits as he hears his friend's step getting closer. The door opens up and the bunny is greeted with a sleepy Goofy, still in his pajamas.

" _Well…good…*yawn*…morning…Oswald…what brings you here so early?_ " Goofy smile.

" _Hey Goofy, sorry to drop like that, but I bought some enchanted bags and I got one for you._ " Oswald says casually while handing a bag to him.

" _Oh…you…shouldn't…WHAT?_ " Goofy is fully awake for sure now. He grabs the backpack and opens it. " _Gorsh, that must have been quite expensive, how much was it?_ " He said bewildered.

" _No need to repay me pal, it was two backpacks bought, two free. So, in the end, it was a great deal_ ".

" _Well, thank you so much, I'll sure be putting a lot of my stuffs in for sure. Want to drink a coffee?_ " Goofy asks happily.

" _No thank you buddy, I had one already and I have to drop at Donald's house to give him a backpack as well. Better I go now before he starts packing everything._ " Oswald says as he walks off. " _See you tomorrow dude._ "

" _Yeah, Ossy, see you tomorrow._ " The canine responds before closing the door.

About ten minutes later, Oswald arrives at Donald's house, the chimney is already smoking. ' _Good, he is already up._ ' He smiles as he rings the bell. Donald opens the door and his face beams up instantly.

" _Well hello Ossy. Slept well?_ " Donald grins. " _For my part, I slept like a baby. Never woke up this early and being so happy._ " He quacks around.

" _I slept well too. Ortensia too, she sure is ready for some adventures that's certain. I just drop by to give you this enchanted backpack. Don't thank me, I think traveling with this will help greatly."_ Donald grabs the backpack with a childish grin.

" _Weeeellll, thank you! I was thinking of buying one today myself. I have so many items that can be useful and my normal backpack is just way to small._ " Donald can barely handle himself, he is a ball of energy right now, waiting to explode.

" _Tomorrow is the day buddy, stock up your energy buddy, you will need it hahaha._ " Oswald jokes. " _now if you will excuse me, I have to go pack as well. See you tomorrow._ " He dashes off back home.

Back at his house…

" _I'm home hun, took a bit longer then I expected though._ " Oswald gives her a backpack. They both settle for a nice, energizing breakfast and they start packing right after. Suddenly, deciding which weapons or ammos or clothes they would take isn't a struggle anymore as they shove anything they think would be very helpful in their journey.

The day passes quickly and, in the end, all four of them are ready and they all have one thing in mind. To get to bed early. The next day will mark the return of their squad and nothing, not even the feeling of homesickness could quench this event.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 03**

The lucky rabbit wakes up with a start and is pleasantly surprised that he was fully wide awake too. No grogginess, no grumpiness, just happiness and lots and lots of expectation for the following days? Months? Maybe even years? Who cares? It will be a great adventure and that's that. Oswald reaches for his wife with one hand but his hand reaches nothing but warm sheets. ' _Already up hey?_ ' he grins while jumping out of bed and walks toward his armor to dress up. Once he is ready, he walks to the kitchen to find Ortensia in her armor as well, munching on some bread with a bit of ham.

" _Good morning, excitement woke you up early like me._ " He cheers while sitting next to her.

" _Mmhmm_ " she answers, chewing on. After a few more seconds, she swallows and completes her answer. " _It's amazing, we are finally leaving on some adventures along with our friends. How can I not be excited?_ " her eyes beams with happiness. " _We are going to see monsters we have never fought or studied before. We are going to see landscapes and worlds that we have never seen before. For me, this will be one experience of a kind._ ".

' _That is true._ ' Oswald reflects to himself while pouring the coffee in his mug. He never thought about that at all and this journey will be a great opportunity to get a gigantic bowl of fresh air. ' _What awaits in a near future? New allies, new enemies and of course, new monsters._ '. " _I guess you are right on that, this will give us a ton of experience and knowledge._ ". He says before sipping his coffee latte. " _Goof and D should arrive any minutes now, I'll eat quickly and then we can clean up the dishes and be on our way._ "

 _ **About twenty-five minutes later…**_

The bell rings and Ortensia jogs to the door to answer. ' _That must be Goofy and Donald_ ' she wonders happily as she opens the door. Sure enough, the duo is both in their armors, weapons ready and a massive grin on their faces.

" _Hello boys, please make yourself at home._ " She motions then inside. As they make themselves comfortable, Ortensia prepares them a cup of coffee and a few snacks for the trip.

" _Well this is it isn't it? I never thought that this day would come so soon._ " Goofy smiles as his grabs his cup of coffee. "mmmhm" he could only muster.

 **9:00 AM**

"Well let's go then." Says Oswald before standing up with his backpack.

The group walks outside of the door, Oswald closes the door behind him, throws his keys in his backpack and with his buddies, walks out of Traverse Town toward their next destination, the University of Spell and Enchantment based at Twilight Town.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 04**

The group is walking on the rocky path toward their destination on a steady pace. The landscape around them is bare and is really lacking nature and colors. Just rocks and more rocks under a bright blue sky. The temperature is nice accompanied with a gently breeze, making a perfect day to be outside.

" _So, we are going to Twilight Town, how much of a walk is it? I've never thought about it._ " Donald asks, having interest in all the small details of the journey.

" _It's about a week and a half from Traverse Town. It is quite far away and we could have taken a flight straight but where is the fun in that? Once we arrive there, we will rest for a few days before moving onward. I know there is a portal from Twilight Town to End Of Sea but of course it is quite expensive. So maybe we can catch a flight to the End Of Sea, less expensive, longer travel._ " Oswald answers naturally. " _I expect some monsters on our way there and I wonder how fast the vampires or werewolves are spreading around. If they reached this land and area already. We had a lot of teaching about those but no experience at all and suddenly they are showing up, released from god knows where._ "

" _I that makes me nervous actually._ " Goofy muses as he swings his backpack to the front and grabs a book about old monsters. " _I've bought some books from our academy because everything useful hints or things are written there_." He flips the pages until he finds the " _ **Disappeared Creatures**_ " section. From there, the first chapter is about vampires.

" _That must have been quite expensive since it was written by professional hunters from all around the worlds."_ Donald jumps to read some details in the book, very comical. "Knowing your thirst for knowledge and love for books, I bet this is a first edition or a special edition at least." He teases Goofy, trying to get a reaction from him.

" _Actually, you are not wrong. This is a special edition that I bought when a hunter came to our academy to sell his books remember? I had to fight my way there to get it._ "

" _riiiigghhhht, you came back with a few bruises and a black eye._ " Oswald adds in with a smile while Ortensia giggles beside him. " _Took you a while to heal from those since you didn't want to waste any magic on it. Well, especially because we had a test after but you didn't care, you had your book._ "

Goofy suppresses a laughter as he keeps reading the book. " _well according to the book, vampires travel very fast during the night of course. Let's see here…hate the sun…crosses, silver weapons and ammos…yyeeeaahhh just the classic information here, I will look into it more once we stop for the day tonight._ " He says before putting his book away in his backpack.

" _Gotcha, there must be a crap ton of information just on vampires too._ " Ortensia remarks.

" _Yeah, the vampire section is divided in six different type of vampires. It is quite complete indeed. It is written that there are monsters that haven't been studied before and they do warn us about mutations. Mother nature may and I'm sure, will surprise us._ " Goofy shivers lightly.

Silence falls upon the group as they keep walking among the rocky environment. Noon is coming up and the noises of their stomachs can be heard loudly.

" _Okay! That's it! I'm hungry! Let's stop and eat_ " yells Donald before reaching for his backpack, dropping it on the ground and dives in to find a sandwich.

" _Good call, I'm starving_ " answers Oswald.

" _So am I._ " follows Ortensia.

They all find a spot to eat on the side of the road, away from the sun to eat their lunch. Of course, nobody speaks as they are on "Eating" mode and nobody got time to talk until they are done and back on the road. The group's progression is slower in the first part of the afternoon because of a full belly and the rising heat. Nothing eventful happens on this day and the quartet decides to set camp for the night. Goofy and Oswald decides to go hunt some boars which took quite a while to find one and they make some beef jerky with the meat.

" _Alrighty guys, so how do we organize our turns as guards for this night. I'm willing to go first._ " Starts Ortensia.

" _mmm sure, I'll be next_ " Donald continues.

" _Next_ " adds Goofy.

" _And I'll be last_ " finishes Oswald.

" _Alrighty, that is settled. I'm going to bed now, we should all wake up just when sun rises up so we can travel further every day._ " Mentions Ortensia before releasing a big yawn.

" _Yeah and we will arrive sooner as well. The faster we are there, the better._ " Concludes Donald, the others shaking their head in agreement.

" _I'm going to bed guys. I am exhausted already after a day of traveling. Got to get use to it again._ " Donald stands up and walks toward his tent. " _Good night and don't forget to wake me up for my watch Ortensia._ "

" _Will do, Donald, will do. Good night._ "

Oswald and Goofy soon follows Donald's steps and are soon in their own tents, all sleeping soundly; all except Oswald who is thinking about Mickey and the opened gate.

' _flippin hell_ ' he thought ' _this is starting great. I wonder what the gate looks like and in what state the land will be like when we arrive? How are we going to close this gate? And what about Mickey? I do hope we will find him quickly. How does he look like now? Does he have a family?_ ' he turns around trying to find a position to fall asleep. ' _so many questions; please brain, shut down for a few hours. I want to sleep_.'

Seeing there is no way he is about to fall asleep, he dresses up and leave his tent to see how Ortensia is doing. Surprisingly, she was not there at all, in fact Donald was doing his shift. ' _did I lie in my bed for that long? A whole shift?_ '.

" _Hey Donald, doing good?_ " He sits beside the duck.

" _Doing alright, nothing abnormal going on. All clear. What are you doing up so late? this is not your shift._ "

" _Couldn't sleep at all. My mind is racing in every direction; Mickey, the gate…everything is rushing into my head and I cannot stop it._ " The bunny stares toward the sky and the millions of stars.

" _I barely remember Mickey, he was lively, lots of energy for sure. He loved reading books about arcane, enchantments and magic but seriously though, I've never seen someone train that much, especially without any prior practice you know._ " Donald remembers.

" _Yeah, he was a ball of energy that's for sure. Had a hard time taking him outside unless it was to see you guys. He did practice a lot by himself, his favorite element was lightning but he always loved fusing elements. Lightning and fire was the first combination that he tried and the next thing he tried was fire and ice. That one frightened me a lot actually. He had a good control of those two both in defensive and offensive ways. And then he found a book about enchantments, artifacts and arcane…oh boy, we lost him on that day._ " Oswald giggles, Donald joining in.

" _We did, but he learned thigs so fast though. Remember when he managed to create a fire rune? When we heard that the famous magician, Yen Sid was in town, looking for students, we brought Mickey there. He remade that fire rune in front of Yen Sid and the latter's face was just priceless. Apparently, Mickey was a young prodigy or something especially for his age? He asked us if he could take him right way to his school. That's when we found out that Yen was in charge of the University of Spell and Enchantment._ " Oswald continues

" _Mickey was excited for sure. Nobody could change his mind anymore. A dream come true I bet. He used to write to us regularly too. I guess I'm now curious about it now and I understand how you feel now. We will find him, do not worry._ " Donald promises.

This settles Oswald's mind quite a bit, a promise, that's what he needed all along.

" _Thank you, Donald, thank you. I'm going back to bed now, sleep is coming fast hahaha._ " Ossy walks back his tent to rest and Donald finishes his watch.

And this time, Ossy falls asleep very quickly and rests until it is his turn to watch.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 05**

The first light of dawn fades in at the horizon, slowly waking up the nature; setting it in motion. Oswald's watch is ending, " _Everybody! Wake up! First light is coming up guys._ " He shouts to his heart content and smiles as he hears groans in all tents and of course, Donald is the one waking up with the wrong foot.

" _THIS IS TOO EARLY!_ " he screams followed by laughter from Oswald and Goofy.

" _It was your choice to wake up early so that we can cover more grounds by daylight dude._ " Goofy claims while suiting up in his tent.

" _Damn right I did, why did I say that?_ " Donald grumbles.

The group eat their breakfast around a small fire camp, packs their tents and by the time the first rays of sunlight reaches the top of the trees, they are on their way.

" _Better now Donald? Full awake now?_ " Ortensia asks sheepishly, looking for a funny reaction.

" _Yeah, yeah, doing better. Why did I open my mouth?_ " Donald muses a bit. " _Geez, this morning was brutal. Brutal to me at least. I never thought that it was that early but yeah, I'm looking forward to arrive in Twilight Town._ "

" _Me too._ " Ortensia adds " _I can't wait to be there either. It's actually great that there is a gate to_ _ **End Of Sea**_ _from there as well. You guys know that I saw Mickey once or twice when he was still here so I don't know much about him but what do you think triggered his interest in magic in the first place?_ "

" _I think it's when he found an old book about arcane in the academy's library. He loved the mystery behind it. He liked being a swordsman which I thought it was insane enough because of his sword of choice. A freaking great sword, close combat no range advantage, I tried to get some answers from him but he kept answering with the same respond '_ _Trust me bro, I got this._ _'. I'm sure he did, I would even bet that he had a plan or something_." Oswald pauses for a few seconds. " _Do you guys think he was hiding something from us? He was a bit reserved after all._ "

" _Maybe. He was quite the introvert and he analyzed a lot of things internally. He Might have had an idea or a plan but is it still in place though?_ " Goofy asks.

" _We might or will never know._ " Ortensia answers. " _However, he showed to be more at ease with magic then with a sword and he was already good with it, so I can get why he moved to another school._ "

Oswald smiles. " _I'll have a big talk with him, going to recruit him hahahahaha._ "

" _Oh honey_ " Ortensia jabs her shoulder in her husband's side.

Silence…silence…silence…

Everybody enjoys the moment of calmness falling on them. The surrounding landscape is still rocky but flatter and still lacks of other colors but brown. A few dry trees here and there but that's about it…boring.

" _This place is dead, absolutely dead here_ " Donald comments " _It never rains here, does it_?"

" _Almost never actually_ " Goofy answers, " _it's mostly like this all year long_."

"Interesting, good thing that we are reaching the **Deep Jungle** in either tonight or tomorrow. I'm getting bored of this landscape. I hate it now, there's nothing but rocks here and a few dried trees." Donald grumbles.

" _Those trees are not as dry as you might think. They carve and form caves with their roots and somehow manage to stock up water from the rare rains as well as some of their roots digging deeper and deeper for more water. Those trees are fascinating_." Goofy finishes.

" _You sure know a lot about "trivial" things. You have a massive library at home so why am I surprised? I would never spend that much on books._ " Donald scratches his head looking at Goofy in awe.

" _You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm hungry for knowledge and I go for it. I see a book that I don't have, I just buy it on the spot._ " Goofy admits sheepishly.

" _No wonder you were almost broke after the academy. You bought thousands of books, haven't you?_ " Ossy was dying for an answer.

" _Yeah, I lost count a long time ago._ " Goofy laughed

"You bookworm." Ortensia jokes.

The groups keep on chattering about things they did right after they graduated. They briefly stop to eat and have a drink but since they could see **Deep Jungle** drawing at the horizon, they decide to keep on walking and see how far they can go before sun sets completely. Once the last ray of the sun disappears completely, they all agree to set up camp for the night.

" _We will reach Deep Jungle tomorrow morning easily. It should take us about four days to cross it completely and then three more days to arrive in_ _ **Twilight Town**_ _. We will do it faster then that, seeing how fast we are walking so let's keep this rhythm._ " Oswald says while reading a traveling map.

" _Easy to keep the rhythm for you guys. I have to do two steps for one of your steps._ " Donald quacks as he is pitching his tent.

" _You are not that small Donald. You are walking at our pace and you are doing fine._ " Ozzy remarks. " _You are getting back into shape._ "

They all settle on the same watch order they did previously before going to bed. The night is rather calm and noises from the Deep Jungle could be heard from here. Ortensia's turn ends and Donald takes his turn.

A swarm of bats flies on the top of him toward the Deep Forest, very close to each other, however, the swarm suddenly changes direction and seems like hovering over the camp. Donald hears the noises created by the wings but cannot find the source until he looks up.

" _Uuhh guys? WAKE UP! We might have some company._ " Donald yell out loud as he reaches for his pistol. The swarm dives in without any warning and Donald barely escapes it. The cloud of bats hovers still above the ground and slowly fuses into a humanoid wearing a long black coat, leather clothes. His face is almost fully covered by long black hair. He stands at a safe distant and reaches his hair with his left hand, moving it to the side revealing his left red glowing eye and his mouth already open showing his fangs. " _I'm so thirsty, you'll do fine for tonight._ ". Donald almost loses all his feathers at the sight.

" _VAMPIRE! IT'S A FUCKING VAMPIRE!_ " Donald manages to voice loudly before the others storms out of their tents.

" _A vampire here already? They travel that fast._ " Oswald whispers, guns already pointed at the vampire. " _mmmm let's be careful here, we know what vampires can do but we never fought one._ "

" _Silver bullets armed, we don't have so many so let's be careful with those._ " Goofy communicates while aiming his pistol on the foe.

" _Pistol is the best weapon knowing how fast they move, they have the less recoil then what we currently have._ " Ortensia whispers to the other members. " _I suggest a back to back formation._ "

" _Good call._ " Donald and Goofy covers each other's back; same with Oswald and Ortensia.

" _Well well,_ " the vampire smirks " _Looks like I found some hunters who actually knows something about our kind. This will be interesting._ " He laughs right before moving toward the group at an astounding speed. Goofy shoots first, hoping that the bloodsucker would either take the bullet straight on or change his direction, giving an opportunity to shoot him down or deal some serious damage. Interestingly, the vampire takes the bullet straight on and barely claws Donald and Oswald if it wasn't for them to dive for safety.

" _Flash news little ones, we got cured by Maleficent and The Horned King. They fully knew our weaknesses and they did something about it. We no longer fear crosses or silver bullets, I think now I'm going to play a little bit with you now._ " The vampire giggles.

" _Well, we are fucked in that case._ " Goofy almost whimpers.

" _Oh yes you are._ " The bloodsucker lifts his right hand, black smokes emanates from it and trails of black fires slithers on the ground at high velocity toward the group.

" _Run! Do not let those flames reach you. Once they touch a part of your body, that part is dead._ " Goofy speeds up and attempts to stagger the foe by shooting more rounds. ' _Come on, come on, find a weak spot, find a weak spot._ ' He empties his magazine with no luck and the flames are visibly getting closer and closer. Ortensia also empties her magazine and sadly, no cigars. Donald however, manages to shoot right in the eyeball of the vampire, making him scream in pain and causing the flames to fade out quickly.

" _Arrgghh you idiot, you shot my eye, MY EYE! You stupid duck, I'm going to gut you alive._ " His body glows red and the injury visibly closes and heal. " _There we go, good as new._ "

" _Flipping hell! He can regenerate?_ " Donald's eyes become as wide as dinner plates. " _This is really bad, we cannot kill him if we don't know his weak points. We are tiering ourselves out, that's what he wants us to do._ "

" _But we cannot flee either_ " Ortensia notes " _He will hunt us down. We are in a bad spot, a terrible spot._ "

Nobody spots a shadow figure higher in the sky, soaring over the camp. He summons his first spell, the tents and every belonging glow white.

"What is happening to our stuff?" Oswald exclaims

"It's a teleportation spell…wait Oswald, you are glowing as well. Ortensia, Goofy…even I am glowing…" Donald answers, blinded by the light.

Before the vampire could make his next move, the whole camp along with its owners disappears, leaving no trace behind. The shadow figure is gone and the only noise we could hear is the scream of rage from the bloodsucker.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 06**

The flash fades away and the group start to get their senses back. They find themselves in a large room made out of stones. After a few blinks, they realize that they have been teleported in a library. Donald runs to the nearby window to get an idea of where they are.

" _Guys? Come over here, you wouldn't believe this._ " He mentions them to come.

The country side in front them are several hills floating amongst clouds with several stars gleaming in the background. A courtyard can be seen on their left.

" _I cannot believe it, where are we?_ " Ortensia wonders out loud. " _I've never seen anything like it, nor read anything about it._ "

" _You guys are in my domain, or I should say, I teleported you in my domain._ " A grave voice sound behind them, startling them. An old man with long grey hair, bushy eyebrows and a very long grey beard. He wears a blue, yellow stared decorated conical sorcerer hat. He wears long, billowing blue robes with sky blue lining.

" _YEN SID?!_ " The squad scream together, all taken by surprised.

" _I cannot believe it, is this really happening? Someone pinch me please._ " Donald mumbles in disbelief. Goofy is quick to acknowledge the demand and pinches Donald who almost jumps out of his feathers.

" _You are welcome pal, always happy to help."_ Goofy lightly laughs, receiving a cold stare from Donald in return.

" _Looks like I came in time this time. I do not detect any of you been bitten which is good, what were you guys doing in the rocky area? Didn't you guys hear about recent events?_ " Yen Sid sternly speaks.

" _Yes, we did and we are actually going to check what is going on. We were on our way to Twilight Town actually._ " Oswald responds ignoring the magician's tone.

" _Well, I must say you are all brave to go there, we will take everything we can get_." Yen Sid's face remains stern but relaxes a bit. " _You guys are not that far from Twilight Town, in fact, technically, you are in Twilight Town right now._ "

" _Really?_ " Goofy scratches his head " _In a different zone then or something. I don't see any houses._ "

" _Heh you could say that, I will teleport you once you feel good enough to go. I suggest you rest first, meanwhile, I'm going to figure what weaknesses those monsters gained and lost. It's scary to know that Maleficent and The Horned King can do such things on a greater scale. We need to act quick and everybody knows that._ "

With that, the magician turns around to leave to his studies. The others get their mattress and quickly hopes in to catch some much-needed rest. Oswalt however, follows Yen Sid.

" _I also have a question Yen Sid? I'm also looking for someone, my little brother, Michael 'Mickey' Mouse._ "

" _Ahh yes, Mickey, he surprised me with his fire rune. When he told me he was a swordsman, I almost screamed 'Bullshit' but he did prove me that he was once he arrived here with me. Very quick learner, and keen to learn. Something that I've never seen before is that he loved trying out new things, fusing elements together. He crafted his own fighting skills, mixing sword and magic in a way I've never thought it would work. He…he was…I mean he still is a little 'prodigy'_ ".

" _Did you say 'was' something happened to him?_ " Oswald's heart starts racing. " _I've lost contact with him eight years ago._ "

The duo arrives in the Sorcerer's Loft, a large room with several shelves containing many books and a large wooden desk behind which Yen Sid sits. Oswald sits on a chair right in front of the desk.

" _Eight years? Great scot, you are one patient young man. Something did happen to him, he was on a trip to_ _ **Radiant Garden**_ _as an assignment and on the road, a storm hit his location and he had to stop in a cave and wait for it to pass. The cave was not to big in size but really deep, it has multiple paths that leads god knows where. Mickey explored to pass the time and he found a massive, blue crystal in wider and much bigger interior. Knowing him, I think he was really careful about this situation but at one point he must have touched the crystal. I couldn't contact him and I sent three teachers on the spot to investigate. When they arrived, they saw Mickey sleeping in the crystal. We tried to get him out by any means but the crystal didn't move nor had any scratches. We tried to move the crystal here but every attempt was a failure. We studied the crystal, trying to figure out what it is and one day, a mage decided to transfer his mana to the crystal to see what would happen. We saw a bird made out of lightning appearing in crystal eating the mage's mana. The bird wrapped Mickey's body with it's wings from behind and disappeared suddenly. Following this event, I believed that the bird is leaving inside Mickey and is not ready yet. This reminded me of mages in the past, some were chosen by creatures to be nurtured inside and to basically fuse their powers as one. It's a strange concept but the mage's mana would disappear and be replaced by the creature's mana. The exact same thing is happening to Mickey but in the least conventional way. The only thing we can do is wait._ "

Oswald remains silent for a few seconds, processing the whole story.

" _Soooooo we don't know how long he will sleep right?_ " he demands, half tired and half sad. He hoped that Mickey could join them right on.

" _Well, I was about to go to the cave to test a theory of mine, you can come with me if you wish._ " The magician stands up and grabs a black book with cyan ornaments before turning to Oswald waiting for an answer which of course, was easy to guess.

" _Of course, I'm coming,_ " He hopes out from the chair and walks to Yen Sid and both of them disappeared in a flash of light to reappear in a gloomy cave lighten by the crystal in question. Oswald's first reaction is to gasp as he recognizes Mikey sleeping peacefully, trapped inside the crystal. " _So, what is your theory?_ "

" _I am thinking about giving most of my mana to the bird, making him grow in the process and probably waking Mickey in the process. It is a risky idea but I really want to try it so stand back, also, I've asked some help from other sorcerers in case things are going wrong._ "

Oswald stands back, enable to get his eyes off Mickey, he sits on a rock and silently watches Yen Sid walks to the crystal and touch it with his right hand.

The bird instantly appears, looking much bigger then before Yen Sid remembers. For a few minutes, nothing happens, well, maybe just Yen Sid starting to sweat lightly at first and then profusely almost ten minutes later. Without warning, the bird disappears and the crystal just shatters in millions of pieces. Surprisingly, Mickey does not fall at all but hovers in place until Yen Sid gently grabs him and carefully check his heartbeat. Mickey's body start to grow rapidly and soon enough, his body matches his age. Oswald runs to his brother.

"Is he okay?" His voice is gently with a hint of fear.

" _He will be, his body is catching up on the time lost but do not fear, it's not dangerous._ " He spokes. " _Let's go back to the tower, we will take care of him and he will wake up pretty quickly I bet, his body is almost burning with energy._ "

Back to the tower, Yen Sid places Mickey on a bed and calls in Flora, Fauna and Merryweather from the Wardrobe room.

" _Ohhh he is finally back; your theory did work after all Yen Sid_ " Flora exclaims happily.

" _Indeed, I've never thought it would work that well._ " He agrees. He looks around and does not see Oswald at all.

" _He went to wake the others up._ " Merryweather informs.

" _Good, as you can see, his body caught up to it's time and he needs new clothes, as you remember, he is quite a swordsman/mage._ " The mage explains shortly.

" _Of course, I think we have something that would do quite well for him. We spent time designing some clothes for him, so when he wakes up, he can choose._ " Fauna answers.

" _Thank you, maybe I can also think of a few designs for our guests as well, what do you guys think?_ " Yen Sid propose the answer is a quick nod from all three fairies with wide smiles.

About twenty minutes later, Mickey's eyes open and he looks at the ceiling, his brain slowly processing what he is seeing. ' _Where…where am I?_ ' he thinks while looking around in his bed ' _Why is this place familiar to me? Have I been there before?_ ' he gets out of bed and realize that he knows this place. His eyes rests on a picture of Yen Sid and the fairies which triggers a cascade of flash-backs from his childhood all the way to the cave. Once he gets back to his senses, he finds himself on the ground sweating profusely and panting. He stands up and walks to the Wardrobe room to get some clothes from the fairies. The moment he enters the room, he is greeted with a massive hug/takedown from Oswald, Donald and Goofy.

" _Hey guys, long time no see!_ " Mickey says under the pile of hugs he was receiving.

" _Hey brother, how do you feel?_ " Oswald grins.

" _Flatten as a pancake right now._ "

" _Oops sorry_ " they say as they remove themselves from Mickey, letting him get up.

" _You have awakened faster than I would have anticipated Mickey._ " Yen Sid says gently. " _That's good, you have awakened in a time of need. I'll bring you up to speed but first, let's get you dressed up._ " He mentions the mouse forward and the fairies circles him.

"We have one design that we managed to come up with while you were sleeping. Now, we had multiples design before but since your body and element changed, we scrapped them. So here it is." Flora says as she flicks her wand.

Mickey finds himself in a black leather with cyan outlines outfit. The outfit is composed of a short-sleeved leather shirt, long black pants with cyan outlines around the pockets and normal, comfy, black shoes. On the top of that, a long black coat.

"looking sharp Mickey" Goofy comments with a thumb up.

"Heh thank you Goofy." He moves around to see how comfortable the outfit is. After a few movements he smiles, satisfied. "Thank you so much, this is great".

"And that's not all, your clothes will handle any electrical charge you deal or receive so don't worry about shredding it." Merryweather adds.

"I want to train with you Mickey" says Yen Sid "I want to see what you are capable of and most importantly, what you gained from all of this. I feel that not only your mana changed, a lot more switched of you and I want us to discover what this is."

Mickey nods "I'm game for some sparring matches." He smiles looking at his mentor, his voice was now lower but still recognizable.

And with that, they all walk to the training room lead by Yen Sid.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 07**

The group arrive in a spacious room, completely empty and devoid of any accessories. The walls are still made of wood but small fibers and layers of magic is protecting the walls and roof if they watch closely.

" _Wow, I've never thought that this tower could have such a big room._ " Goofy exclaims in awe, looking everywhere, taking in the size of the room.

" _I must say it's quite a training room too._ " Oswald nods in agreement.

" _It needs to be spacious, you should see this place when I train my students here, you wonder how this room did not explode before with all the types of magic being released at once. Thankfully, the enchantment I've added on the walls are doing wonders._ "

" _It must be impressive to see and witness such powers with your students._ " Ortensia comments looking at Yen Sid. A little smile appears on the wizard's face for a very short of time. Ortensia barely saw it but she can swear that smile was a smile full of pride and fun memories.

" _Yes, it's impressive and sometimes terrifying I must say but it's always a joy to see students being serious in what they do and seeing their progression throughout the years._ " Yen Sid says before stopping dead in his track and turns to Mickey. " _All right Mickey, let's see what you can do now._ " He challenges as he spawns a shadow of himself at the other side of the room. " _Defeat him by any means._ " He claps his hand, spawning a wall of magic between the group and Mickey to shield the group from any hazards during the showdown.

"All right, let's see where I am at." Mickey takes off his coat and studies the Shadow Yen Sid in front of him. He walks right slowly to see how his opponent would react and hopefully leave an opening for him to attack. The shadow however is quick to demand for some action as he casts a fireball on Mickey which to be fair is not threatening at all. This makes Mickey respond with a lightning bolt, deflected easily by the shadow. ' _mmm no opening so far, maybe close combat is the way to go._ ' The mouse thinks and before he knows it, a flash of cyan light happens, spawning in his left hand a black long sword made out of sharp dragon scales; all outlined with the same blue cyan. Another flash happens and a second similar designed sword appears in Mickey's right hand but this time, it is pure white with red outlines and is hold in a reversed grip.

"DOUBLE SWORDS?!" The whole group says in amazement.

'How? I've never saw him train nor use a sword in reverse grip.' Yen Sid wonders internally, curious nonetheless.

Mickey's body glows in a faint cyan blue before disappearing and spawning right behind the shadow and swings of his swords. The opponent barely escapes the swings looking really surprised, almost stunned at the speed of movements and precisions of the swings. He throws more and more fireballs at Mickey, clearly trying to get as much as possible between him and Mickey; but this does not do any good as Mickey very quickly closes the gap and lands a hit with the side of one of his sword, making the shadow fly backward. Mickey was not done as he appears right under his foe between the ground and deals an electro-charged kick sending the poor shadow toward the ceiling at a ridiculously high velocity. Mickey's body transforms into a lightning bolt, moving pass the flying shadow and deals another charged kick sending him to the nearest wall. The group can only watch the shadow being kicked, punched around like a ball at a very high velocity around the room. Donald closes his eyes as he can't follow anything and is getting dizzy. Once Mickey has enough, he focuses a high voltage punch and deals the blow right in the Shadow Yen Sid's stomach, clearly killing him on the spot.

" _I must say this is quite impressive and terrifying at the same time Mickey._ " Oswald congratulate his brother, while sweating at the display of such power. ' _note to self: do not piss him off._ '

" _Yeah this is good, but not good enough. I do feel that your potential has not been discovered yet._ " Yen Sid stroke his beard, thinking how he can awake his apprentice's skills and true power.

" _Let's try that again but this time, two against one._ " He spawns a replica of a vampire and werewolf.

" _Are you kidding me?_ " Mickey gasps " _This will be too hard master._ "

" _Focus Mickey, focus._ " Yen Sid sternly says.

Without warning the werewolf lunges forward and swipes at Mickey at full speed. Mickey's reflexes kick in as he shields himself with his twin swords. ' _oh goodness this going to end badly._ '. He jumps over the werewolf and only now see the vampire flying full on him. Mickey's first reaction is to make himself as small as possible into a ball with both swords all out and he spins on himself turning himself into a dangerous ball. The vampire maneuvers to escape but just not enough and loses his right arm in the process. Right as Mickey lands, he receives a swipe by the werewolf sending him right into a wall at high speed.

" _Michael!_ " Oswald shouts, his big brother instinct is telling him to run and check is brother but deep down, he knows that he will be alright and Yen Sid can stop it if it goes too far.

" _Ow, that was a nasty hit_ " Mickey stands up and focuses on the werewolf. ' _let's see how you will like that you monster._ ' At this moment an aura appears around Mickey, changing all the cyan outlines to a bloody red outline, outfit and his element included.

Yen Sid gasps ' _What's that? What is happening to him right now?_ ' he looks closely, even scare to even blink. ' _Did he just switched…not that can't be right_ '.

The werewolf lunges at Mickey again, almost quicker then the first time but this time, Mickey is ready and without warning, Mickey launches a torrent of lightning to the lycanth who can only take them straight on, the mouse then punches the air creating a shockwave sending the Werewolf crashing against the opposite wall, disappearing in the process.

Mickey immediately scans the room for the remaining vampire but can't find him at all. He looks at Yen Sid, who did not blink since the very beginning of the second round.

" _You destroyed him as well with that shockwave Mickey. How on earth did you learn all of that?_ " Yen Sid says as he disables the shield.

" _I…I don't know, a lot thinks I'm doing now…I couldn't do it before_." Mickey inspect his hands "I just…do it…I guess, like…I know I can do it and I just do it."

" _That was wicked though bro, remind me to not piss you off in the future will ya?_ " Oswald gives a pat in the back of Mickey.

" _Will do bro, will do._ "

"Mickey? What the hell happened to you when you fought the werewolf? Your energy turned bloody red." Yen Sid asks eagerly.

" _I…I don't know actually. I just focused as much as I could on him and everything else became a blur and disappeared. I only saw that werewolf and I felt something switch inside of me_."

"like a 'Werewolf mode activated' switch?" asked Donald

" _Yeah…something like that and I felt something like that happening when I fought the vampire earlier but…it wasn't as strong._ "

" _You…you…you have a passive ability, a very handy and strange passive ability at that._ " Yen Sid reflects, wondering what the hell happened to Mickey and how much changed in him.

" _Passive ability? I thought mine was already determined._ " Mickey looks at his mentor, puzzled.

" _The crystal, the bird…it changed it…but how? I need you to do some testing for me._ " Yen Sid requests.

" _Sure, I have plenty of mana left._ " Mickey grins and then realizes what he just said. " _plenty of mana left? How can I have that much mana?_ "

" _Yeah, the attacks you did looked like they were heavy-mana hungry._ " Oswald agrees.

" _You guys go train or something. I need some private, intense hours with Mickey to figure what is happening with Mickey. We will let you know when we are done._ " Yen Sid casually says.

" _But…alright, let's go guys, we need to check our weapons and inventories as well. Take care Mickey._ " Ortensia walks toward the door with Oswald beside her, giving anxious looks behind to Mickey; Donald and Goofy following them closely.

" _This is getting really interesting._ " Ortensia muses to her husband. " _Listen guys, I'm going to Twilight Town with Fiona to get some more news about what's happening at The End Of Sea. Anyone wants to come or not?_ "

" _Not really._ " The others say.

" _So much is happening, need some air to breathe and think._ " Donald explains follow by a nod from Oswald and Goofy.

" _We'll wait for you here._ " Goofy reply.

" _Ok then, take care boys, I'll be back in a bit_ " She runs off to the Wardrobe Room to meet with Flora.

" _You too, be careful._ " Goofy waves at her.

The trio walks back to their stuffs, noises and vibrations could be heard and felt caused by whatever Mickey and Yen Sid were trying out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 08**

Oswald, Goofy and Donald are checking their inventory. They are in a large room with a long, round, wooden table in the middle completely buried under different types of ammos, weapon parts and books. The trio are cleaning up their weapons, deconstructing and taking them apart, making sure everything is in good shape and then rebuild them. Nobody's talking, the only noises that you can hear are the cleaning tools used and the ticking of the clock. Oswald focuses as much as possible but his mind often is interrupted by questions he is dying to ask to Mickey. ' _What did it felt like to be in the crystal?_ ', ' _How was your studies, how intense was it_?". So many questions that needs answers but it has to wait; it does not help that vibrations caused by the duo training can still be felt. The lucky rabbit looks at the clock while still working on his guns robotically ' _four hours already? This is nuts, how long are they going to keep training? What kind of test are they doing?_ ' he wonders. He stands up, stretches his body and walks out of the room.

" _Be right back, I'm going for a little walk to stretch out._ " He informs Donald and Goofy. He walks down the stairs of the tower to the training room where Yen Sid and Mickey were training. He peeks at the door, looking at what is going on inside and why there's so much ruckus.

" _Good Mickey, good, keep on channeling your energy._ " Yen Sid walks around his student in a bubble shield, protecting himself from the surges of electricity coming from Mickey. Mickey comply and concentrates and his energy rises again and intensifies.

' _holy moly, that would fry a freaking rhino on the spot._ ' Oswald gasps at the sheer amount of energy being released. ' _All that energy is coming from a freaking bird?_ '

" _alright, let's see what happens if I keep on feeding you with mana._ " Yen Sid strokes his beard.

" _Again? Isn't that enough sir? I have yet to get use to what I have._ " Mickey replies sounding exhausted and lost. " _What are you trying to do? I don't understand._ "

" _You will understand in due time. Now, be quiet, will you? I'm concentrating._ " Yen Sid closes his eyes and raises his hands toward Mickey. A ball of mana forms a few inches from his hands and is release at high speed toward Mickey. The mouse flinches slightly as the ball disappears at the contact of his clothes. He feels his energy coming back to him.

" _Woah, I feel weird._ " The mouse comments.

" _It's normal, you will get use to it the more you do it._ " Yen Sid nods.

" _No no, I mean…I feel weird…I feel sick._ " Mickey collapses without warning on the floor, bending forward spitting blood.

" _Mickey!_ " Yen Sid runs to his apprentice side and examines his body. " _I don't see anything amiss nor sensing anything weird. Where does it hurt? Tell me!_ " The mage holds Mickey gently, his voice stern but this time, he is scared.

" _i…i…move back…please…move back…_ " Mickey whispers as his body convulses inward. Before Yen Sid can stand up, a shockwave sends him flying but he is quick to catch himself. A cyan aura engulfs Mickey's body and two huge wings burst out of the back of Mickey with a sickening noise of bones growing very fast. The wings' color scheme is the exact opposite of the swords; the right wing is near pitch black and the right wing is pure white; the wings are big enough to fully shield Mickey if they are wrapped in front of him. " _It's hurts! It hurts so much, what is happening to me Yen Sid?_ " he pants, completely exhausted " _Yen Sid?_ "

The sorcerer's look is a mix of awe and WTF. ' _I've never thought that THIS would happen. What in the name of…_ ' his thoughts are interrupted by his student's voice calling his name.

" _Yen Sid? What is happening? What did you do? What did I do?_ " Mickey asks, nearly panicking, walking slowly toward his mentor.

" _You fused, you fused with that creature. The mana I gave to you caused that, no doubt about that but what happened inside of you? More mysteries, more questions…this is interesting but at the same time, it's getting out of hand. Last thing we will do today, learn how to fly and tomorrow, we'll do more as well as your friends, I'll teach them some useful things._ "

Oswald, who watched the whole event, backs off and walks off back to Donald and Goofy. His mind still processing what he saw. ' _Keep holding those questions for tomorrow buddy and what about us training? Magic is not our field at all, he knows that._ ' He arrives in the room and finds the table all cleaned up, except at his spot. Goofy is reading his book about monsters and Donald is stretching his body.

" _Going to exercise today Donald?_ "

" _Yeah, I need to move a bit, I have to much energy right now._ "

" _Alrighty then._ " Oswald responds before going back to his guns to finish cleaning them up.

Two more hours flies by and no one speak during that time, no one dares to break the silence on the room until finally footsteps can be heard in the corridor. Ortensia appears at the door.

" _Hey boys, how is it going here?_ " she asks in a monotonous voice.

" _Pretty nice actually, checking our stuffs and just doing our own stuffs in silence. How about you?_ " Goofy asks while adding a bookmark to the page before closing his book.

" _I'm worried, worried about what I heard, I don't know if it's good news or bad news. The latest report is that the gate releases other creatures that were forgotten or some shits, demons and more creatures. Also, it was reported by a dozen of scouts that The Horned King and Maleficent are not on good terms. They saw both of their armies attacking each other. A lot of people want to take this time to attack while they are killing each other._ " Ortensia informs them.

" _That's a great call I must say._ " Oswald comments.

" _Yeah, especially that the two baddies somehow don't know or hasn't notice that we are getting ready. We might have the element of surprise, if we do, we want to take this chance. So, they are organizing something very big. A three thousand army composed of Mages, Swordsmen and Gunners are going tomorrow. They want to act now and surprise, Scrooge is financing everything_."

" _UNCLE SCROOGE?_ " Donald nearly screams instantly before covering his mouth with both hands as realizing he goofed big time. "I wonder what deal has been made for him to finance something that does not make him win any money in return."

" _Probably something like '_ _if you don't help us financing, we are all doomed_ _', or in this sort OR like '_ _if you don't help, they will steal your money and your belongings._ _' Hahaha_." Goofy jokes but still, there was a serious tone in his voice.

" _Yeah, the latter sentence would work pretty well I must say_." Donald admits.

" _Also, honey, you are making the news as well. '_ _ **The great Oswald going back to his roots.**_ _' As a title in a small section of the newspaper._ " Ortensia smiles.

" _Well, news spreads fast_." Oswald gently smiles. " _I'm going to talk with Mickey today and see if he is willing to join us._ "

" _Oh, I think he will join you guys._ " Yen Sid speaks, nearly giving everyone a heart attack. " _We trained quite a lot today but he is fine. He is just cleaning up right now but I asked him to meet here._ "

" _He must be exhausted though_." Ortensia comments.

" _Not as much as you think, he is really happy with what we discovered today and…you'll see for yourselves._ " Yen Sid smiles.

About twenty minutes and bringing up Yen Sid to speed, footsteps can be heard in the corridor and Mickey is greeted with eyes as big as dinner plate when they see the set of wings.

" _What the hell happened to you?_ " Donald quacks in surprise.

" _Ehhhhh, still trying to figure it out_." He scratches behind his head. " _Oh boy this will take a while to get used to it._ " He moves his right wing over his body. " _Cozy though._ "

Goofy walks to Mickey and touches his wings. " _That's amazing, simply amazing. You can fly with them_."

Mickey nods " _We spent the last two hours training on that. It's quite an exercise but with more training, I should do fine. I will keep on training tomorrow and I think I'll be able to fight while flying in the next few days_."

" _I want to teach you a few useful things as well tomorrow as well._ " Yen Sid looks at the Oswald, Ortensia, Donald and Goofy. " _You can aim but I want to sharpen your aim and senses. It will be useful. Mickey? Will you able to enchant their weapons?_ "

" _Hell, yeah I will be able to do that. What do you have in mind?_ "

" _Magazine enchantment and damage improvement enchantment_." The sorcerer answers back. " _I want those weapons to be as deadly as possible. Enchanting the magazine will change the bullet type. Perfect against any monsters, it will adapt. So that's what I have in mind. You take care of that and I'll do the rest._ "

" _Ok, that sounds like a lot of fun_." Oswald grins.

" _Oh, believe me, it is. Now will you excuse me, I have some things I have to take care of. See you tomorrow for some training._ " Yen Sid walks off and waves goodbye to the group.

Mickey walks to one of the enchanted books on one of the book-shelf, grabs a massive book of at least four thousand pages and opens it on the table.

" _Hey Mickey, got a few minutes? I really want to speak with you bro_."

" _Of course, it's been so long since we saw each other. So, what's up?_ "

" _Well you might have heard what is happening and such. One of the reasons we wanted to stop in Twilight Town was to ask you if you wanted to travel with us. You know, forming a nice squad._ " Oswald watches the writings in the book, obviously not understanding a single sentence.

Mickey takes a few second to think and for him, the answer is more than obvious. " _Of course; I will join you guys_."

Oswald grins widely and can only grab his brother in a tight hug, his bunny tail wagging.

" _I missed you Mickey_ " he whispers in his brother's ear.

" _I missed you too Oswald, even if I was sleeping_." Oswald pulls from the hug.

" _I'm so happy you are joining us, this is going to be intense and I wanted to live this adventure with my brother and my best friends_."

" _We will stop them, it's a promise, bro_." Mickey smiles back at his brother.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 09**

After catching up with others on everything happened since he left, Mickey leaves to his room with the enchant book and his squad's weapons. It is late into the night already but he is not tired at all, in fact, the adrenaline rush from his training is still there. His room is really simple, a bed, a study composed of a small, wooden table with several books, notes scattered all over the table. He sits in front of the table and opens the book to the appropriate chapter of guns enchantment. He summons a fire ball and places it on a small 'altar' and starts working.

The whole night is a nightmare for Mickey, enchanting the guns takes him a lot more time then he ever thought it would take and he suddenly understand why enchanters offers such high prices in exchange of their services. It's a long, repetitive and irritating process because it requires enchantments upon enchantments to ensure that the weapon does not break under the pressure of magic. He had to do it one step at the time and it quickly infuriate him.

Goofy wakes up during the night to get a drink, and notices the light slipping under Mickey's door as he walks by. He stops and stops himself from knocking on the door. He too wants to learn a bit about magic but he knows he will never get to experience what Mickey experienced when he stumbled upon that enchantment book. He finally knocks at the door, hears Mickey's positive respond and enters the room slowly, trying not make a lot of noises.

" _Hey Mickey, what are you up to right now? I'm surprised you are not sleeping right now after such an intense training session."_ Goofy comments

" _Well first of all, I'm still under adrenaline rush right now, second of all, I'm still use to this type of training so I'm actually fine, surprisingly. Yen Sid wanted me to enchant your weapons so this is what I'm currently doing. It's a bit of a pain the ass to do because I have to enchant layers on top of layers._ "

" _Can't you just do it once?_ "

" _Nope because it will break the weapon apart. It's…complicated, basically, it would fry your weapon completely. Shame, because It would have been much faster._ "

" _And how long do you think you still have?_ "

" _About three or four hours._ "

" _I want to talk about magic. I still remember when you found that book in the library, something happened to you, or in you. I want to learn about some basics in magic, when you have some free time of course._ " Goofy sits on the bed right next to Mickey.

" _Well, I've never thought about being a teacher hahaha. I surely can teach some of the basics but then I think beyond the basics, I would suggest you to read a lot and see a real teacher._ " Mickey concentrates on his duty. " _It's time consuming, I've never ever invested that much time as a swordsman and yet I easily tripled my practice and study time as a mage and enchanter._ "

" _Yeah, I must imagine this must be really time consuming._ " Goofy smiles. " _Well, I couldn't sleep and I was about to get something to drink when I walked by your door. So, what do you think about Maleficent and The Horned King turning upon each other?_ "

" _I think they played a very dangerous game by opening the gate. The way I see it, they had a plan, tried to double cross each other and it backfired monumentally._ " Mickey speaks thoughtfully. " _They are now attacking each other and helping us in the process. I'm willing to bet that the plan from our side is to close the gate first and then take care of the rest._ "

" _That can be a risky process though_." Goofy wonders out loud.

" _Yeah that's true_."

The duo keeps on chatting as Mickey finishes enchanting the weapons. The light of day is slowly fading in and loud, frantic, knocks on the door can be heard.

" _MICKEY! GET UP! You guys have to go RIGHT NOW!_ " Yen Sid opens the door with a loud kick. " _The squads that were suppose to go today actually left a day earlier and apparently, it's a flipping mess over there. You guys needs to go and help them NOW!_ "

" _WHAT? I've just finished enchanting the weapons. I'm worn out._ " Mickey protests.

Goofy grabs the weapons and runs to the others. " _I'll warn them!_ " he yells back.

" _I'll give you some mana, don't worry but you have to go now. Prepare what you need. I'll give you money for the teleporter and then, you are on your own. My advice, join the group to get some information._ " Yen Sid toss a bag of money to his apprentice.

" _Thank you, we will do our best._ " Mickey promises.

" _I have no doubt you guys will_."

" _And here's an enchanted bag for you bro._ " Oswald tosses a bag to Mickey who grabs it and starts packing everything he thinks he will need.

The group is quickly brought to speed by Yen Sid in full details and about an hour later, the squad are walking to the teleporter which will bring them to End Of Sea. At the teleporter, they cross path with young teenage boy with spiky brown hair blue eyes, tanned skin, and lanky build wielding a keyblade saying that he is looking some a friend named Riku and he thinks he may find him here. The boy also comments that he will join the fight later before running away in the town toward the marketplace. The group pay up and jumps in the teleporter.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The group arrives at End Of Sea and find themselves on the teleporter's platform which is located on a seashore near the beach. The area is fully in night time, the moon is the only source of light.

" _This is the place? It's darker than I thought it would be._ " Oswald comments looking at the landscape. Ortensia couldn't tell if he was sarcastic or worried.

" _This is scary though, it does looks like this place was abandoned centuries ago, I would go as far as millenniums. Look at this place, it's like this place does not have any living animals around here. It's dead here._ " Goofy muses, looking for a book in his backpack.

" _Yeah, do you think because this place has been abandoned the day never came back? It looks like day never rose here_." Donald questions.

" _You might be right Donald._ " Goofy responds. " _The only thing I can see from this book is that it used to be sunny and beautiful here but since the gate was build here to seal those monsters, everybody left. But it's interesting is that the gate itself has a nasty aura, even nature itself fled from that aura._ "

" _This means…those thorns, this sea is not from nature itself?_ " Oswald wanders.

" _No, it is, but the aura poisoned and transformed the whole entire land._ " Goofy concludes. " _Scary how magic can be destructive._ "

"Yeah…let's move out guys." Ortensia leads the way in the land on the path toward the camps.

The group hikes for a good two hours in the dark forest. The whole place looks and feels dead and it is accentuated by the cold but smooth glow of the moon; adding or giving a ghost-like atmosphere in to the forest.

" _This is disturbing. I can only hear my footsteps in this forest. A freaking forest for heaven's sake, this is not settling well with me._ " Donald mumbles quietly to Goofy.

" _Well, yeah and it does not help that it's a lost land either. Who knows what grew under the gate's influence? I don't really want to know to be honest_." Goofy whispers back.

The group arrives at the other side of the forest and sees dark plains devoid of life…or is it really? Behind some plains, light emerges from behind further plains and chatters can be faintly heard.

" _Well, looks like we are here…finally. Let's get some information and get ready to get nasty._ " Oswald suggests, half joking.

" _Oh you and your double meaning sentences_." Ortensia sigh.

And with that, the group walks to the camps.

The camp is a fusion of the gunners' camp, the magicians' camp and the swordsmen's camp which can be seen by the colors of the tent in their respective order, silver, dark blue and dark red. The main path is splitting the camp in two. Some people are talking around, some are training and some are taking care of their weapons.

" _Look at that, I thought they would be strict and all but they mix around. Good, the schools need to socialize more together._ " Ortensia smiles. " _Alright, let's find a general or someone, get information and leave._ "

" _What? You don't want to be part of this army. Look around, it is pretty sweet here_." Donald protests. " _It would be awesome_."

" _Yeah I guess but I think it would be cool to be sort of a free group you know. We can move freely and take care of some potential threat for them. We don't know what's waiting for us besides what we already know. Besides, I do not think you want to smell blood, feet and mud the whole time in this camp, would you?_ " Ortensia finishes.

" _Never mind my idea. I like that_." Donald grins sheepishly.

" _You have been quiet since we left Mickey, come on buddy, say something_." Goofy pats the mouse's back.

" _Heh, sorry. I'm thinking about a lot of things, especially the gate. Sealing the gate won't be easy feat but I know we can do it. I do agree with Ortensia though. Being an independent group is fitting…for us at least_." Mickey gently smiles.

The group is walking through the camp, following the main path and talking about plans and everything they can potentially investigate for the army when Ortensia spots someone she knows; an old friend with her gang.

" _Daisy!_ " She shouts, waving her hands to her friend hoping she would recognize her and sure enough, she comes running to her.

" _Ortensia, holy hell, it's you I can't believe it!_ " Daisy screams while hugging her friend. " _It's been so long since we saw each other. How are you doing? Mmm don't answer, you look radiant even if it's dark. Hello there Oswald, long time no see_."

" _Hehe you are looking great as well. So, getting ready for some nasty battles?_ "

" _Yeah, this is going to be interesting. Everybody is excited and on edge right now. We never fought in a such upscaled battle before, my heart is beating so fast every time I think about that. Hey you got some friends with you?_ "

" _My name is Goofy. Please to meet you._ " The dog shake hands steadily.

" _And I am Donald_." The duck introduces himself, shacking Daisy's hand.

" _The pleasure is all mine. Nice to meet you, I'm Daisy and wait a second._ " Daisy turns around and waves her friends to come over. " _My friends who are also in my squad: Minnie and Sylvia._ " They all shake hands, re-introducing themselves.

" _Hey, hold on, where is Mickey?_ " Oswald looks around and spots his little brother talking with another young mage. The youngster looks thrilled and even excited to be talking to Mickey. " _There he is. Looks like he is busy already_." He waves to his brother, catching his attention and motions him to come.

" _Wait a minute…Mickey? The one who was stuck in a crystal or something?_ " Daisy asks confuse to what she just heard.

" _Yeah, that Mickey and how the hell do you know about that?_ " Ortensia asks, surprised.

" _Oh come on, this story is well known you know, everybody knows about him but I must say I've never thought I would be meeting him face to face._ " Daisy responds, gathering her senses again.

"Well you will meet him and probably see him even more because he's Oswald's little brother." Ortensia grins.

" _You are kidding!? This is a joke, right?_ "

" _No, it's not a joke, ask him for yourself_." Goofy giggles.

" _Ask me about what?_ " Mickey asks suddenly making everyone almost jump out of their skin.

" _Holy crap! Mickey DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN!_ " Donald yells, holding his chest.

" _hehehehe sorry about that Donald, I though you guys knew I was beside you. Anyway, greetings, my name is Michael but everyone calls me Mickey_." He smiles.

" _Well hello Mickey, we heard a lot about you, you know? You are quite someone in Twilight Town and in the schools._ " Daisy comments making Mickey a little bit uneasy.

" _Heh well thank you but if you could not say anything about me being here, it would be great._ " Mickey scratches his head.

" _I won't, I promise. So, is it true that you are Oswald's little brother?_ " Minnie asks.

" _Yeah, this is true. Why?_ " The mouse slightly his head in confusion.

" _Oh nothing, hehehe_." Daisy jumps in. " _That's awesome though, happy to meet you. Ortensia and I are from way back to our last year of academy. We met there and we became friends really quickly and when we parted ways, we promised to meet again. Promise has been kept it seems. Anyway, so you guys are joining the army?_ "

"Well we aren't really. We will fight as well but as an independent squad. We have some stuffs we want to investigate as well." Oswald explains.

" _Oh I see, cool. You should go look for Ansem. He is the head chief of the whole camp. He will be happy to see you guys, I'm sure. Apparently, master Yen Sid will come as well soon, since Mickey is here, I guess he will be here very soon. And I must say that your group is interesting, four gunner and one mage..._ "

" _and swordsman_." Mickey finishes for her as he materializes his dual swords. " _I was a swordsman before I discovered the realm of arcane, magic and enchantment. Even if I changed my 'profession', I still trained as I as I could with a sword and I created my own fighting technics fusing magic and blades._ " He informs with a 'as a matter of fact' tone in his voice.

" _Nice blades, may I try one?_ " Minnie asks.

" _Yeah, try it._ " He gives a blade to Minnie and smiles when the she almost drops the blade because of the weight.

" _How the hell do you manage to move and control those? They are heavy as hell!_ " She manages to give a few sweeps. She then looks at Mickey and only then notices his wings. ' _I wonder how high he can fly with those wings; they are huge and particular. I've never seen someone with wings before…well, non-magical wings._ ' She thought, a smile slowly creeping on her face.

" _training, just pure training._ " Mickey answers.

" _Alright, Ortensia is going to see Ansem and I'm going with her. Let's split and chill for a bit. I'll look for you once we are done._ " Oswald says before walking away with his mate.

" _Sounds good to me._ " Donald comments. " _Hey Daisy, I was wondering if you want to train a bit? I think I might be a little bit rusty._ "

" _Sure thing._ " Daisy answers before walking off with Donald.

" _Goofy, do you read books? You look like someone who likes to know things as much as possible. I'm writing a book about this place and my experience here and I think it would be awesome if you can add your input in it._ " Sylvia asks with a smile.

" _I love reading. Let's do this._ " Goofy answers happily before following Sylvia.

" _Annnnd two bookworms have found each other._ " Mickey grins, watching the duo walk away to their occupations.

" _Well I have a question for you as well._ " Minnie smiles. " _Well several questions for you actually. How does it feel to have wings and fly? Must be very interesting and also, can you show me some of your magic spells? I've always wanted to see someone cast a spell._ "

" _I sure can, let's go somewhere quiet and far enough from the camp though. I do not want to bring too much attention on myself here. Maybe grab what you need to take and we can go._ "

" _I'm already ready. We can go now._ "

" _Good, hold on to me then, we will fly_." Mickey extends his wings and Minnie holds on tightly to Mickey before he takes off. Minnie is slightly scared from the sudden take off and people can be heard saying stuffs along the lines of 'dude, who is this guy?' or 'hey, this guy has wings?'. Mickey flies out to a place a bit out of the camp. He is so concentrate on his flying that he does not see Minnie blushing slightly.

'This is great, this is amazing. This feeling, I've never felt that before and who is he? I'm going to know more about him…I…have to…he is quite handsome.' She thought silently. 'I need to know him more.'

Little did she know, she isn't the only one being struck by the lightning of love.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Mickey lands gently in an empty place near the forest and gently let Minnie stand up on her feet.

" _This is amazing. I almost can't feel my legs anymore._ " Minnie says, shaking a little bit, getting her balance back. " _Must be amazing to fly around all the time and time saving_."

" _Well, I haven't traveled by flying yet. I just got those wings very recently and I just got to learn how to fly with Yen Sid just before coming here. The training was intense though but it's so worth it. It feels good to fly and soar above lands that would take days to cross by foot. Anyway, let's practice a bit. I'll show some spells and then we should practice a bit. Mage versus Gunner; that will be really interesting._ "

Mickey summons a classic lightning ball with his right hand and brings it close to Minnie who recoils slightly.

" _Don't worry, I will not let it hurt you." Mickey reassures her. "Just look at it._ "

" _It looks interesting and I like the noise. It's like a thousand birds tweeting at the same time. Chaotic but harmonic at the same time._ " Minnie arms her guns and smiles " _Up for some sparring? Don't worry, they are raining bullets, it won't kill_."

" _Spare time it is, I'll go easy hehehe, safety first_." Mickey drops his coat almost giving Minnie a nosebleed. " _Come on, let's do this._ "

The duo spares for about two hours, learning each other's tactics, strengths and weaknesses in the process. At the end of their sparing moment, the both settle down before traveling back to camp.

" _Hey Mickey, I have a question? Since you trained very closely with Yen Sid, do you know anything about the gate? I mean, someone with so much knowledge like Yen Sid must have spoke or talked to you about this. If it's private, it's fine._ " Minnie asks shyly.

" _We talked about that gate the day I woke up from that crystal which is only like two days ago you know. I still process everything that happened while I was sleeping and information keeps coming. I have a few ideas on how to close the gate the question is, will I be able to do it? Am I good enough for this? Nobody asked me to close it of course but Yen Sid told me that I can close it._ " Mickey kicks a little stone around, a bit in frustration.

Minnie walks up to Mickey and grabs his face with her hands and looks straight in his eyes.

" _You have been trained by a master in the magic realm. I want to say THE master in the magic realm. Do you even realize how big this is? Some says you are as powerful as him._ "

" _Power in itself is good enough but what about my wisdom? What makes Yen Sid powerful is his wisdom. I may be as powerful as him but I'm far from his level of wisdom._ " Mickey blurts out instantly.

" _And that is completely ok. I don't see any issues with that. The thing is, it's not about the wisdom you don't have or know but it's about what you are doing with the wisdom you currently have. Keep holding on to that._ " Minnie smiles. " _You are just lost and confused, you missed so much stuff and you are trying to catch up on the lost time. Don't._ "

" _I…I'll do my best. Thank you for that. It feels good to hear that_."

" _No problem. We should get back to camp, the others must be looking for us and we will soon eat._ "

" _Right._ " Mickey grabs her again and takes off.

Back at camp…

" _Where are they? We looked everywhere for them and they are nowhere._ " Donald wonders out loud.

" _Good question. I don't know where they could have gone to. They are not in Minnie's tent, not at the mage's or gunner's training ground. The only thing I can think about is out of the camp. They probably went out of camp_." Daisy answers.

" _Well, hopefully they are not getting themselves in trouble._ " Sylvia comments.

" _I wouldn't worry about that. I trust my brother and I'm sure I can trust Minnie as well_." Oswald says, laidback.

" _But they have to come now, we are about to eat but Minnie never misses food. When it's time to eat, she is right on time_." Daisy wonders out loud. "Let's head to the dining tent, they will join us there…"

" _Talking about the devils_." Sylvia interrupts and points to the sky towards Mickey and Minnie.

The whole group watches as Mickey lands softly on the ground in a cloud of dust thanks to his wings. He let Minnie go and stretches calmly.

" _Right on time_." Minnie hops happily to the groups with Mickey right behind her. "So? How was it?"

" _Good, it was great to train with someone new. A friend of a friend is even better. I showed him a few tricks and he did showed me new things. We kind of became great friends._ " Daisy gives a light, playful punch to Donald's shoulder. Clearly something is happening right there.

" _We shared a lot of knowledge. Goofy helped me quite a lot in writing my book. So much stuffs I have yet to explore and discover_." Sylvia's beams with joy as she hugs Goofy.

" _It is fun to see what you discovered Sylvia._ " Goofy comments " _I'm so curious about your book though. You have a lot of things in it._ "

" _Before I forget, Yen Sid wants to see you Mickey. He arrived and went to check the gate while you were gone and he notices a few things he wants to share with you asap. He is still at the gate and is waiting for you right now._ " Oswald informs his brother.

" _Alright, I'll go now then. ASAP for him is urgent._ "

"Do you want us to save some food for you?" Ortensia asks

"Yes please. Thank you." Mickey gently smiles before expanding his wings and slowly lifts himself off.

"Do you even know where the gate is?" Daisy questions.

"I can feel it from here and it's not far at all. See you guys later." The mouse says before taking off.

As the group walks off to the dining room/tent, Donald mutters "I damn hope that it's not a damn bad news."

"Me too." a young teenage boy with silver hair with bangs, pale skin, bright blue-green eyes, and a muscular build says right behind them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The group turns to see the young man.

" _Who are you, young man?_ " Daisy asks carefully " _I haven't seen you before_."

" _My name is Riku._ " He says as he walks to the group " _I'm currently investigating what's going on behind the enemies' lines. It's getting really ugly between Maleficent and The Horned King. I can't say anything more yet; orders of Ansem._ "

" _Pleased to meet you Riku…Ri…wait a minute we met someone called Sori? Soryn? Sora…he was looking for you in Twilight Town._ " Oswald remembers " _He looked like he was in a hurry though_."

" _Sora? Really? How is he doing?_ " 

" _He looked fine, tired but ok I guess. We just crossed path briefly. He was just asking us if we've seen you before and we just said no_." Donald informs him. " _It was today…or tonight? I lost track of time because it's night here but anyway; if you hurry up back to Twilight Town, you should be able to find him there._ "

" _Thank you, I'll go right now then because knowing this goofball, he will keep running until he finds me_." Riku smiles. " _Take care guys and see you soon hopefully_." He says right before teleporting away in a dark warp magic effect.

" _Now, let's go eat before something else comes our way._ " Donald grumbles. " _I swear I need a break from all of this._ "

" _Let's_ " Oswald approves.

" _Ahhh there you are Mickey. Good, I suspected that it would take longer for you to hear my message._ " Yen Sid remarks as he hears his apprentice land besides him. " _No matter, now that you are here. I was watching the pace of monsters coming out and I noticed they are coming in waves. They leave in nice window for us to close the gate. I will need your help, Mickey. I cannot show myself to Maleficent or The Horned King. If they see me, god knows what they will try to take me down. You will close the gate by channeling your mana directly into the glyphs around the gate. These glyphs were made as an emergency security. With your mana, you should be able to close the gate in a matter of seconds but during that time, anything can happen so I'll watch your back, and the army will watch your back."_

" _So, I am chosen to close the gate…_ " Mickey trails off into his own thoughts.

" _Nervous?_ "

" _Yeah, quite nervous even if it sounds and look so simple_."

" _That's because there's a lot of outcome behind and they can be heavy. You also know that closing the gate is not a little deal either in this war. It's a big responsibility, and we all trust you that you'll carry it through_." Yen Sid sigh gently. " _We will attack very soon, go back to camp and eat, we will attack right after that. We have to act quickly, nobody knows we are here._ "

" _Right, let's use the element of surprise to our full advantage._ " Mikey approves while stretching his wings. "See you later, Yen Sid." He says before flying back to camp, this time, he wasn't feeling light at all, but heavy. Heavy because of his duty, all eyes would be on him in a few minutes? Hours? He doesn't know and he doesn't want to know. What he wants to know is when all this madness would end, he hopes it is soon.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Mickey lands near the camp in the plains and sits down thoughtfully. ' _What the hell is happening? What happened while I was sleeping? It's hard to catch up on all the events_.' He scratches his head, looking up to the moon and sigh. From sleeping in a crystal to being the chosen one to close a door releasing chaos. In such a short span of time, needless to say that it's way too much to handle for the mouse. ' _What am I going to do afterward? Stay as an apprentice? Maybe not. I have to make a living now._ ' He stretches his wings and gives them a few flaps before wrapping them up around him. ' _Those wings are pretty nice but…_ ' his thoughts trail off as he feels the warmth of his body being held by his wings around him. His thoughts then switch to Minnie and Mickey finds himself lightly blushing. He likes her, no, it's more then that, he loves her. He wants to know more about her, to spend much more times with her. He remains in that position for a good twenty minutes, calming his mind and getting mentally ready for the upcoming events. He stands up and walks back to camp and as he walks past the front gates, he falls upon Minnie who hands him his dinner plate. They both find a place to sit down.

" _Thank you_." He smiles before eating his meal quickly.

" _You are welcome. So, apparently, we will attack very soon. We had a meeting with Ansem just a few minutes ago._ " Minnie informs him "I suspect you know this already since you had a meeting with Yen Sid. Three squads and mine will be covering you while you close the door." This news makes Mickey coughs mid swallowing his food.

" _So, four squad in total? How much enemies are we expecting there?_ " Mickey wipes some bits of food from his mouth.

" _A lot, trust me, that put everybody on edge_." Minnie nearly whispers. " _Are you nervous?_ " She watches Mickey intently, waiting for the answer.

" _I am, a lot actually. Closing is no easy fit and it can take ridiculous amount of time as well. The more time I'll take to close it, the more deaths there will be…on our side…_ " Mickey closes his eyes, trying to relax.

" _Don't…don't think about this, we are not under your watch, you will be under our watch alright? You focus on that door and leave us do the rest_." Minnie gently grabs Mickey's face with both hands. Her touch is so gentle and her hands so soft, Mickey lightly blushes and gulps, watching straight in her eyes. " _Are you ready now?_ "

" _I'll have to be ready, so might as well be ready now_."

" _Not completely the answer I had in mind but I guess it's a good start_." Minnie giggles at Mickey's tilt of his head in confusion for a few seconds before he gets the message. " _Oh, heh…I guess I'm saying things way to openly_."

" _You are speaking everything on your mind. Nothing to be ashamed of. Let's go, I can hear quite a lot of movements in the camp. I guess we will be going soon._ " Minnie sighs in annoyance. She wants to be with Mickey, she enjoys his company a lot.

" _Already? Geez, going to act fast I guess_." Mickey responds as they both stand up and heads to the center of camp. " _Hey, you know, I heard the main plan but how is it going to go? I mean, details_."

" _Oh, first, gunners, we will shoot and kill everything we can before they reach us, once they are close, swordsman will be taking care of them while gunners retreat on a more favorable position for support. Then, the mages will cast their spells to either buff their allies or weaken the enemies. It costs less mana to do that rather then using damaging spells. They will also heal when possible. We have something and everybody knows their work so it should be ok. We also have Ansem, Yen Sid aaannnnddddd you_."

" _Oh please, I'm way below Ansem and Yen Sid's skills…_ "

" _But you still are his student, right?_ "

" _I…yes, I still am_."

" _Which means you still are learning from one of the best if not the best of the best. Well…I have to go meet my squad now. See you later on the battlefield_." Before leaving, Minnie grabs Mickey and kisses him on his right cheek before giggling and running off.

" _Well damn…bro, I see you made past the 'just friends' zone did ya?_ " Oswald jumps on his little brother from behind, nearly tripping Mickey in the process.

" _Well…heh…I guess I cannot say anything about that. I really like her…_ "

" _You'll see her right after that fight…trust me you will_." Oswald grins " _Come on, I was looking for you, Yen Sid is waiting for you at the entrance of the camp, go ahead. We will join you guys later at the gate._ "

" _Right…_ " Mickey's face darkens for about a second but he manages to regain composure and walks away.

" _Hey bro, take care and be careful._ " Oswald smiles while giving a thumb up to his sibling. " _You got this, I believe in you._ "

" _Take care as well mate. We will go back to Twilight Town together. I promise you that_." Mickey smiles back and runs off to his master.

Donald, Goofy and Ortensia arrives just a few seconds later, all geared up.

" _Did we miss him?_ " Goofy asks hopeful that his answer would be answered negatively.

" _Yes, just by a few seconds_."

" _Awww gorsh, I wanted to wish him good luck…_ " Goofy sigh sounding disappointed.

" _He will be fine…come on let's go. We have a war to win._ "


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Mickey finds himself beside Yen Sid, hidden behind an invisible spell, watching the gate from afar. Yen Sid is surprise how stressed his apprentice seems to be. He can nearly hear his heartbeat from here he is and his breathing is sharper then usual, just a little bit.

" _Mickey, relax alright? I trained you and I chose you because I knew you were really smart._ " Yen Sid comments, trying to calm the mouse.

" _But how can I relax when deep down, you know that everybody has high expectations from you? Especially in something of that scale? How do you remain so calm master?_ " Mickey speaks, keeping his gaze on the gate the whole time, his expression mixed between anxiety and excitement.

Yen Sid runs his fingers through his long beard for a few seconds before finally answering. " _I'm always a bit scared of what may happen but I do know one thing, as long as I can control it, I'll do my best to keep it under control. If something is going rogue and is outside of my control? It's not my fault, I just accept it and deal with it. Even at my age, I still learn from my mistakes. I will always learn Mickey. So, go to the portal with confidence, I know that you believe in yourself, you can do it._ "

Mickey's ears twitches slightly as he takes in the words. It makes sense, it makes sense but it's hard to fully accept it. Can something be out of your control? Can something be out of control for Yen Sid? Surprisingly, Mickey couldn't say no, not everything can be controlled, there's always hazardous events happening and nobody can do anything about it.

" _Never thought about this…under this perspective at least_." Mickey smiles lightly, relaxing a bit.

" _I have an important question for you Mickey_." Yen Sid says as he notices the army arriving from the plains. "Do you trust your teammates? Do you trust your allies?"

" _Yes, I do trust them. Why this question?_ "

" _You are extremely powerful Mickey. Temptation is that you would not trust anybody because of that or you would watch people as inferior of you. You seem really down to earth and humble about it. I congratulate you for that._ "

" _Thank you master._ " Mickey's eye beams with happiness.

Yen Sid notices the army stopping and a few squad dispatching, some on higher grounds and others going straight for the gate. " _Alright, it's time to go Mickey. Go with strength and wisdom. We will always watch your back. I'll be here to keep an eye out on you but as I told you before, I cannot afford of being seen by Maleficent. Now, go, we will talk later._ "

Mickey nods and salutes his mentor before running of to the gate. There is still a bit of ground to cover before reaching the gate and traps are likely to be hidden. He halts to look behind were he left his master but there are no more signs of him. He lets out a small sigh to release some of his stress and runs on to the gate. Mickey desperately wants to fly straight to the gate but being on the ground would give them more time to close the door, assuming the foes are not alerted by their presence. The four squads chosen to cover Mickey quickly catches up with him and they are now running toward the gate.

Mickey notices green flames rising at the top of the gate and a figure comes out of them. ' _Well, the element of surprise is a bust._ ' He thinks, almost frightened as he realizes who just appeared in front of them.

"Poor fools, you dare come and interfere with my plan? I will crush everybody, you and your worlds, one by one." Maleficent yells at the oncoming group, her voice filled by hatred. Her eyes start to glow green as she casts green fireballs and launches them on the group.

Mickey's first reaction is to cast an electric shield around the group and it's only now that he realizes that two members of the group are the teenagers they met, Sora and Riku. Sora is wielding a sword looking like a key with a long silver Keychain extending from the hilt, and a Hidden Mickey token on the end of the Keychain. The blade and teeth of the Keyblade are silver, the rain guard is blue, and the guard is bright gold. Riku has a sword with a red, purple and blue blade shaped like a demonic wing. the handle bears an eye and the handle itself consists of dark braids.

" _interesting…_ " Mickey mutters, he looks straight ahead and notice that they are amazingly close to the gate but Maleficent does not look worried at all and that worries him.

" _What the hell is she doing? She stopped attacking us_." Riku yells.

" _I do not know, let's be careful_." Mickey answers calmly.

" _How about I go and fight Maleficent and you guys go straight to the gate?_ " Sora grins.

" _Heh how about no? Or we will be two to fight her_." Riku answers back.

" _That's fine by me, buy me as much time as you can but there's something not right. Where's the Horned King? They opened the gate together…_ " Mickey wonders.

" _Who cares_." Sora interrupts " _We have Maleficent in front of us, let's take care of her and then…_ "

" _He is no more_." Maleficent growls and strikes the ground with her staff, making the ground shakes violently. A few seconds later, geysers of green flames start to pierce through the ground between them and the gate. Effectively stopping the group in their track.

" _What?_ " Sora has a hard time believing this. " _Liar._ "

" _That idiot thought he could double cross me. He waited until I let my guard down to attack me with his army. I sure showed him not to mess with me. But that bastard still took down my army._ "

" _Well…that's pretty anti-climactic…_ " Sora scratches his head, almost laughing and yet sounding disappointed.

Sora and Riku starts to hover slowly up to Maleficent.

" _We will take care of her; you guys go for the gate_." Riku yells back to the group.

" _Come, please come, you are mere flies to me_." Maleficent laughs, her voice changing to a lower pitch as green flames engulf her and transforms her in her dragon form. Sora and Riku takes the opportunity during her transformation to get as close as possible before attacking her straight after.

Mickey takes the opportunity to walk through the geysers with the group using his shield. " _Awesome we are there and so far, no one's here. I'll start closing the gate, another wave of monsters can come anytime through the gate though._ "

" _Don't worry, we got you covered Mickey_." A gunner in the group says with a grin on his face as he subtly waves his dual guns toward the portal. "Go for it, we will watch out for Maleficent as well. She might come in full force."

Mickey concentrates on the artifact on the right side of the door, a blue aura surrounds the mouse and soon, the door is surrounded by the same aura. Without warning, a deafening sound is released from the gate, the sound is very similar to at least ten trumpets blasting at full force. Mickey and the others covers their ears and thankfully after a few seconds, the sound fades away, leaving everybody's ears ringing. The mouse manages to keep the mana transfer going and his hearing is coming back slowly.

The door's gate gives a faint red glow before a new wave of mobs comes out like a cascade. The whole group clearly is not ready for a good ninety-ish monsters coming their way, thirsty for blood and Mickey manages to fly away thinking he would be safe up in the air while taking care of the door. " _Guys, this is getting ugly really quick here_." He says before noticing a flare being shot in the sky.

" _The whole army is coming man. This went south really fast._ " The guy from earlier says while backing away. " _Stay up their Mickey we will…Look Out Mickey, on your left!_ "

Mickey looks just in time to see a massive cloud of bats rushing on him. Mickey do not have any other choice then cut his link with the gate to take care of the bats coming his way. " _Vampires, great, that stinks. Alright, bring it on._ " As soon as he finishes the sentence, the cloud morphs in about twenty full fledged vampires. ' _me and my big mouth_ '.

" _You will regret saying this you rat. We will suck the life out of you for all it's worth_." A vampire grins and licks his lips in anticipation.

" _I do not think you will, and I for sure will not let you do it_." Mickey expand his hands into the sky, letting shock charge flow through his body, creating static charge around him. His body is now covered with a thin layer of electric charge. Mickey gives a glance to his allies and he let a small sigh of relieve as he sees the army running straight to them.

" _Alright, let's see who I'll fry first._ "


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Seeing the vampires being unsure on how to approach their opponent, Mickey takes advantages to charge up his body. Each second that passes, his body slowly turns to a tint of cyan blue, his wings retracting in his body. Surprisingly, he does not need wings to fly around just because of the sheer amount of static energy his body is releasing and it is starting to show in the air around him with bright, thin filaments. One of the vampire's shapes back into a cloud of bats and flies straight into the static field to reach the mouse but each bat is either cut in half or badly wounded by the static filaments.

The other vampires grit their fangs at the sheer brutal massacre in front of them but they are far from backing down. They just watch and a smile slowly appears on their faces, confusing Mickey in the process. The mouse hears a warning from Riku and turns around to notice a bloodied dragon flying straight to him. ' _Crap_ ' Mickey though as he flies upward, with the dragon and now a flock of vampires hot on his tail; Riku and Sora struggling to catch up, their energy clearly running out.

" _I know who you are little mouse. If I kill you, no one will be able to close the gate, right?_ " Maleficent screams before breathing out a cascade of fire, nearly getting Mickey if it was not for his quick reflexes. " _I'm going to eat you...or I'll wait the vampires get you_." With that, Mickey watches on his left's blind spot to see the cloud of bats closing on him, the only thing he can do is to keep going up as high as he can. He takes a few seconds to spot Riku and Sora who were far in the back and he then has a crazy idea, that could work and hopefully, the duo would catch on it. He suddenly changes direction in a full hundred-eighty degrees and dives at high speed down back to the ground and Riku and Sora. He manages to pass the bats but not Maleficent, who was quick to react by using her claws in hopes to catch the mouse. The mouse doesn't know what hit him but he feels a sharp pain in the upper part of him torso all the way down to his lower ribs; the impact sending him out of control as he falls. He yells in agony and struggles to concentrate on what is going on around him and he feels his wings growing back on his back as his previous little transformation fades out.

The world around him fades out as the pain overtake his senses. ' _the pain…unbearable…no…don't pass out…do not pass out…_ ' he keeps on repeating in his head, fighting the urge to sleep and rest from the pain. He forces his eyes to open and he is glad to see that Sora and Riku passed him up to defend him, clashing again with Maleficent, sadly the vampires are still after him. Mickey casts a basic lightning strike spell and hits a few bats in the process, 'that has to slow them down if I strike them all.' He says as he casts the spell repeatedly right before disappearing in a flash of a lightning strike.

Mickey is now beside the gate again, resting a bit and tending to his wound. It is a nasty injury and really deep one, he is losing a lot of blood, especially for a mouse. He heals the most important part of his wound, preventing to die from blood loss, he has to keep his mana for the gate. He is surprised at the sheer amount of mana he possesses; however, his body feels like he is at his limit. 'not used to this I guess' he sighs as he struggles to link again with the gate once again. His concentration is cut short by surprise attack from behind by a werewolf but a bullet finds the creature's brain before a claw can hit the mouse. The mouse sigh in relief and continues the mana transfer looking around to find his brother with a smoking gun pointing his way.

" _Keep on going bro, you got this…what a mess…and you are welcome._ " Oswald says as he fires his guns at every foes who dares to walk in his direction. His attention turns back to his group. He sees his beloved wife fighting along with Daisy and Sylvia. The trio are shooting each consecutively making sure that two people can shoot and cover the third one reloading. ' _they are doing just fine_ ' he smiles.

Goofy is back to back with Donald, coordinating everything by often switching positions, often doing melee combos and finishers in synchro. " _Nice guys, you sure hang around a lot in the past, it shows. I don't want to be at the end of this bullet though._ " he teases, trying to lighten up the mood a bit.

" _Heh I doubt anybody wants to be at the end of a bullet_." Donald quacks, panting as he shoots down a vampire in the sky. " _That makes it fifteen for me._ " He says happily.

" _I'm at fourteen, right behind you fella._ " Goofy grins as he kills another vampire. " _Never mind, fifteen. It's a tie now_." Goofy laughs once he hears a grunt from Donald.

Oswald nearly facepalms with his guns. He has completely forgot about that small rivalry going on once those two are on a battlefield. Their favorite game? Who can kill the most enemies before the end of the battle. " _Guys, keep an eye out on Mickey, he nearly got mauled by werewolf a few seconds ago. By the way, his enchantments are doing wonders._ " He comments.

" _Yeah,_ " Goofy agrees while ducking from a werewolf swipe before shooting it in the right eye socket, the bullet piercing the back of the head along with bits of brain. " _The damages, the speed, it's scary. I'll thank him once the battle is over._ " Goofy looks around to find Mickey and spots him easily, the glow giving him away quickly. " _Got him, I'll try to get close to him. Donald, you following?_ "

" _Eeeyup_ " is the only answer Donald gives to his friend and the duo slowly makes their way to Mickey.

Oswald scans the battlefield for any potential danger or opportunity to help a fellow fighter, gunner or mage. The whole plain is a mess, spells of any kind are flying around the place, some hitting their marks, some missing completely. Swordsman are doing their best in duos or trios on one enemy and the sound of guns, the sweet sound of guns going off constantly. He notices the cloud of bats, moving around, ignoring everybody. ' _must be looking for Mickey, that's not going to happen_.' He puts his gun away and grabs the crossbow he made right before leaving his house. ' _ooooff heavy, I'll have to do something about that._ ' He arms it with a silver bolt and steadies his aim; in his horror, the bats speeds up straight on Mickey. ' _Well fuck, they found him._ ' He shoots the bolt, hitting a bat straight in the belly. ' _aims like a charm though._ ' He smiles faintly as he grabs another bolt and arms his crossbow again and shoots. The bolt gets another bat down but almost hit Ortensia's leg; she looks at the bolt and scans the area to see her husband with the crossbow.

" _ **Watch out**_ _,_ _ **YOU NUMPTY**_ _, you almost got me!_ " She shouts at him, her arms flailing around.

" _I'm sorry, the bats are going for Mickey, stop them, do something before they reach him_." He points at the cloud flying past her.

" _On it_." She aims and shoots gusts of four, taking down a few bats in the process. " _Daisy! Sylvia!_ " The two girls catch on quickly and shoots the bats who are now trying to swerve away from the bullets. " _They are going to reach him_. _Dammit, Mickey!_ "

Minnie appears out of nowhere between Mickey and takes out the remaining bats with her sniper rifle. ' _That was close, to close_.' She thinks as she gives a thumb up to Oswald and the girls; who gives her a thumb up in return. She notices the gate's glow fading away and another deafening sound comes out of the gate but this time, the sound was much lower. The doors from the gate closes violently and cracks starts to appear on the gate. Mickey turns away from the gate and runs in the opposite direction yelling " _ **RUN! RUN! THE GATE IS ABOUT TO BLOW UP!**_ " Needless to say, that everybody already knows what is happening as they are all running away. The creatures who are originating from the gate, falls down without warning, like ragdolls. Minnie and Oswald slow down to give Mickey time to catch up.

"What is happening Mickey? Why is the door reacting like that?" Minnie asks, panting heavily.

"I have my idea on it. The rune on the door…I felt a huge part of my mana being sucked at once by it and I think that was way too much for the rune and it set the gate in auto destruction mode or something."

The gate keeps on humming loudly until a blast can be heard from miles away, debris of the gate flying high in every direction. The group finally stops their sprint and turns around to see the damages. The gate is no more, only debris and ruins can be seen and a massive patch of burned grass. The whole army releases clamors of victory.

" _I cannot believe it! We did it!_ " Minnie exclaims happily, hugging her friends, Daisy and Silvya.

" _I know right!?_ " Daisy answers back happily.

Ortensia and Oswald are having their little moment, celebrating with Donald and Goofy. Mickey however is not celebrating yet at least. His eyes are captivated by the clouds. He knows he saw Riku and Sora following Maleficent through the clouds, but they are no where to be seen now; ' _maybe they need help._ ' He guesses as he extends his wings.

"Where are you going Mickey?" Minnie grabs his right arm, her face vibrant with happiness.

"Sora…Riku, I haven't seen them come back and Maleficent is still a threat. I have to see if they are doing well." Mickey looks at her, anxiously.

"Be careful Mickey." Yen Sid appears behind him. "Your body has a hard time keeping up with your mana. If your body screams at you to stop, stop right there. Remember, you are still recovering from your sleep."

"I'll be careful." Mickey flaps his wings and takes off to the place where he saw the duo and villain last. He takes a last glance backward to take a look at a scared expression on Minnie and Oswald's face. "I'm coming back, I promise."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Mickey flies through the clouds, faintly hearing the sound of battle in the distant. ' _Sora, Riku, hang on_.' Every now and then, the clouds are lighting up with a green aura for a few seconds, ' _What is going on there?_ '. Finally, he manages to reach the upper side of the clouds and takes a few seconds to scan the area. ' _Woah_ ' he thinks as he watches the sea of clouds below him, the light of the moon reflecting on the thick mist. He then spots the massive dragon in the distance spewing flames toward the two keyblade wielders. The mouse spawn his dual swords ' _alright Maleficent, time to finish this once and for all_.'

Sora and Riku are struggling to get close to Maleficent to damage her. She is flying and reacting fast to whatever they are doing and she defends her blind spot pretty well.

" _We will never do it if this keeps up Sora. Do you have any more ideas?_ " Riku comments right beside his friend. " _My energy is fading, we are in trouble_."

" _Mine too. We need to find a way to make her expose her weak spot. I don't any ideas but if panic, we will waste our energy even faster. Maybe we should dive down…or fight her in the clouds._ "

" _That is so risky and we can lose her completely. We don't know if Mickey closed the door, she might use this opportunity to go back to the door_." Riku muses.

" _I guess so…hold on, I see someone coming up, hopefully it's good for us_." Sora says hopeful. Sora squint his eyes and immediately recognizes Mickey " _It's Mickey, my guesses are that the gate has been sealed._ "

The dragon dives and disappears into the sea of clouds as soon as she hears these words, the silence drops in for a few seconds before a loud roar can be heard.

" _That sounds like a 'noooo' to me_." Mickey arrives with a smile, relived arrive in time.

" _Okay, now she is pissed off…and probably desperate at this point_." Riku grins slightly. " _Let's bring her to the army, the more, the merrier right?_ "

" _I don't think they want to fight a flipping dragon but we are getting weaker by the minute…you know what? Let me go talk to Ansem, I'll be back in a flash._ " Sora disappears in a flash of light.

" _So, how is she? Hard to get a clean hit?_ " Mickey slightly arrange his grip on his swords.

" _She is a real pain in the butt. She protects her weak spots really well and she moves so fast. There's no way we can do critical or deadly damages. We need another approach_." Riku stretches his back. "I think with you though, it will be different. Maybe if you manage to shock her nervous systems…"

" _I think I can, I just have to be careful with my mana as well. The portal took more than I thought it would._ " Mickey grunts, sweating bullets.

" _Right…_ "

Riku does not have the time to finish his sentence as the dragon resurfaces from the sea of clouds in fury. " _You miserable little pests. My plan is ruined because of you..._ " she only then notices Mickey " _YOU! Alive? How? I…no matter, I know you ruined everything, I'm going to wipe you out of this existence and then, I'll finish the whole army. You will all pay!_ "

" _There's something you have to know Maleficent. You might exclude some of us because of your ability to fly but…_ " Yen Sid appears from the clouds, floating. " _You should know that the universe is under my watch._ "

" _Yen Sid, the little mouse decides to get out of his little hole. Still alive? I am really surprised. What are you preparing to counter me out? I know your tricks old man. I…I would love to fight you but I have better errands to do._ "

" _Really? Where is the fury you had earlier? Didn't you want to obliterate me into oblivion?_ " Mickey cast his swords away before crossing his arms in dismay. " _Coward._ "

Maleficent laughs as she transforms back to her human form. " _Poor fools, you clearly are clueless, aren't you? I'll leave you know. We will meet again. I promise and this time, you will die…you! Stupid mouse, you better watch your back, watch your steps because I'll never forget you_." She spits every words in a venomous tone before disappearing in a torrent of flames.

The group remains silent for a bit, reflecting on those words. Mickey is the first one to break the attention as he soars downward slowly, coughing and loosing the ability to fly. Riku soars to the mouse and holds him as they fly down together, followed by Yen Sid closely.

Once their feet touch the ground, Mickey straight up pukes on the side. ' _And this is what I get for pushing myself while I'm not recovered fully_.'

" _Let's go back to camp. I think I know what Maleficent is up to and if I'm correct, we will have a lot of work to do_. _And I have to tend to Mickey_." Yen Sid sounds worried. He looks at his apprentice and muses to himself ' _How are you going to deal with recovering and those events? Let's see how your spirit holds up._ '

Oswald and his friends are waiting back in camp for the return of Riku, Sora and Mickey. Goofy and Sylvia are sitting back to back, reading their own books, Donald and Daisy are checking their weapons, Ortensia and Oswald are kicking stones around.

" _This is really frustrating._ " Oswald mumbles " _I want to be out there, or I should say up there and help out but I can't. I'm stuck here on the ground…_ "

" _To be honest, I kind of am happy to not fight that dragon right now. Most of us are drained and I can hardly see myself fight again so soon._ " Ortensia sits down.

" _I do not want to become a grilled duck alright? I'm fine here_." Donald jokes in a good nature. Daisy gives him a light punch on his shoulder.

" _You would be quite delicious dear…I'm going to stop right here. Me and my dark jokes_." She grunts. That! was a fail.

" _So, I guess this is it? We will go back home or at least in our homeland and hunt around for quests_." Oswald smiles gently. " _After something like this, our skills definitely sharpened_."

" _Yes and no_." Yen Sid speaks right behind them, scaring the living hell out of Donald and Goofy.

" _One day, I'm going to die of a heart attack for sure if he keeps doing that_." Donald mutters to himself, his feathers all ruffled up.

" _No time to speak. We have an emergency on our hands, we have a meeting with Ansem right now._ " Yen Sid strikes his beard a few times, while beckoning them to follow him.

" _What is the rush? We won, didn't we?_ " Sylvia asks worried.

" _We won a battle, only a small battle I'm afraid. We will talk about it with everybody at the meeting right now._ " The sorcerer's voice darkens.

" _Have you seen Mickey? We haven't seen him yet_." Goofy demands in a rather panicked voice.

" _He is not well; his body is still recovering. He threw up right after the battle and he is now resting back at my tower. I will need to give him advices on how to properly rest. Anyway, you will see him later._ "

The group arrives in a large very large white tent. Inside, it is looking like an amphitheater and there are enough seats for the whole army to sit. At the center, Ansem, Riku are chatting clearly waiting for Yen Sid to show up. The group finds a place to sit down and Yen Sid joint the duo.

" _Well as you might expect, today is a victory. We fought hard and thanks to Mickey who is currently resting, managed to close a gate from god knows where it comes from. However, Yen Sid gave me some very troublesome news that seems to correlate with some information I just received from Twilight Town_." Ansem looks at Yen Sid, giving him the lead to speak.

" _As you know, Riku and Sora were fighting Maleficent and Mickey showed up to help. However, I decided to stop staying in the shadows and jump in the action I guess. She fled which was surprising. Before that though, she left said something very odd and I had to check something with a fellow of mine, older then I am. Turns out that there is more then one gate to that same very dimension and I am sure that she knows where they are and Ansem received some news from other worlds claiming that those same creatures are present as well. The good news now. First of all, the armies are also mobilized there and we will help them. So, we will send at least two squads together in each world to help. Second of all, every army have at least one sorcerer who can seal the gates. And as you saw, the more we wait, the harder it will be to close the gates, so we have to act fast and Maleficent knows we will be coming. So be ready for anything. Squad leaders, we will talk to you to set the squads team, the rest, you are dismissed. Pack up and rest well_."

" _Well…what kind of madness are getting into?_ " Daisy sigh, shaking her head.

" _No clue, but I'm staying here. I'm really curious of what is going to be said here._ " Oswald rubs his chin. " _And I think we were doing great on the battlefield ey?_ "

" _Heck yeah. We should team up_." Daisy's face lit up. " _I mean the synergy was good_."

" _Ay_ " Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Ortensia and Sylvia agrees together.

" _That settles it. We will be together_." Daisy grins.

" _Heh Mickey will be surprised. I hope he will be fit to come with us_." Oswald's ears drop slightly.

" _Ah don't worry, he will be just fine and Minnie will be taking great care of him as well_." Daisy teases, having a blushed Minnie as an answer.

" _I'll get you for this Daisy_."

" _Oh, I know_."

" _Right, you two stays here, we will go pack our stuffs_." Ortensia yawns before stretching.

" _Ok then, see you later then_."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Oswald carefully dust off his bed sheet before folding it nicely and store it in his backpack. His body seems to move on its own as his mind drifts far, far, away; from the good old days during his childhood all the way to the recent events. Back then, he wasn't worried about the world, about its future, hell, he wasn't worried about his own future. For him, fighting monsters would be his life and it didn't scare him. He loved the adrenaline, the thrill of battle, hearing his heartbeat in his ears. That was when he felt most alive. But now, things are different and there are more at stakes then just his life. All the worlds faced eradication at the hands of Maleficent. He never ever knew that seeking his own brother would lead them in an epic war for survival. Anyway, now that he is in this mess, he wishes for one thing, to go back home. He stops moving for a few seconds and his attention comes back to him, all his belongings are packed and ready to go and as he turns his head around, he sees Donald and Goofy making final checkups as well. No one dared to speak since they began packing, probably the weight of duty finally creeping in on everyone. Oswald heads outside of his tent, lifts his head to the nightly sky and smiles. _'I needed an adventure, I got one and with more friends that I hoped I would have.'_ He internally notes himself and turns to his right and notices Yen Sid walking in the camp. The rabbit quickly catches with him and asks him

" _How do we know where we have to go? Yen Sid? We don't know where is our destination_."

" _I was looking for you actually. I say Daisy earlier and she let me know that your teams are going along. We have only a few places left where you can go._ _ **Agrabah, Enchanted Dominion**_ _or_ _ **Traverse Town.**_ _Daisy doesn't really care where whatever you choose_." Yen Sid spawns a notepad in his left hand.

Oswald's ears perk up as he hears his hometown being brought up, he couldn't believe it. He will be able to go back home and protect his beloved town. " _Oh, the choice will be easy, Traverse Town please_." He grins with joy, his little fluffy tail wagging around.

" _I thought so_." Yen Sid smiles lightly and waves his right hand over the notepad, magically tracing the town's name and writing the names of the fighters involved there. " _I knew you would want to go protect your hometown, who wouldn't?_ "

" _You mean, you kept the name of the town free for us to choose?_ " Oswald nearly jumps up in excitements. "… _thank you_ "

" _Of course, I did it for almost everybody here hahaha. Turned out this plan was great. Almost every squads are going back to their homeland_." Yen Sid gives a few strokes on his beard. " _I have a few squads to see right now, I have to make sure they all have a place to go to. Once you guys are ready, come see me and I will teleport you back to your location. As for Mickey, he is doing speedy recoveries and will be teleported along with you. He woke up before I came back here and after a few major healing spells, he was back up on his feet_."

" _Alright, I will go talk to the girls and let them know of our destination_." Oswald says as he watches the sorcerer walk away before turning back and head up to his tent. The rabbit grins as he enters his tent. " _Hey guys, we are going back home. That's our destination_.". The news seems to bring energy back to his friends and beloved wife.

"Really? No one picked up Traverse Town before us?" Ortensia asks quite astounded.

" _Apparently not hehehe because Yen Sid kept Traverse Town just for us_." Oswald replies. " _I'm going to notify the girls about it as well. When we are all ready, Yen Sid will teleport us back so the trip will be short_." The lucky rabbit exits the tent again, running straight for the girls' camp.

Mickey looks at himself in the mirror, admiring how good he is looking in his new outfit crafted specifically by Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. The outfit is composed of silver and black shoes, a silver baggy short held up by a belt with one big cyan pocket on each side, a silver shirt and black no-sleeves jacket with silver zippers and a hoodie; everything made out of a 'leathery' looking material. He moves around, testing his movements with the fabric and go as far as making a few backflips and front flips. He spawns his dual swords and gives them a few swings, ranging from wide to tight swings. Flora enters the room quietly and watches the mouse.

" _I have a few things to say about your new outfit Mickey_." She speaks in her usual happy tone and walks up to the mouse. " _First of all, the outfit is well made and fit for your transformations and will be able to handle your surges of mana_. _There is also a second thing, your wings can be a little bit in the way when it is about dressing up so we decided to enchant the shirt and jacket so that you can take them off just like regular clothes._ "

" _Neat_." Mickey hugs Flora lightly and breaks the hug free. " _Thank you much for this. Those clothes are so light too. What are they made of? Looks like leather_."

" _We won't reveal everything we know, young mouse. That's our little secret_." Flora winks and proceeds to walk away. As she reaches the door, she turns one last time to Mickey and wishes him good luck before disappearing.

Mickey walks to his room and open his wardrobe to get a few things ready. At his surprise, all his clothing has been turned into the same current outfit he is wearing. He grabs a few and fold them neatly before storing them in his backpack. He sits in front of his workstation and summons his swords again before placing them gently on the table. He gently runs his fingers on the blades, making sure not to cut himself. He could almost feel the pulse of his own heartbeat at the tip of his fingers and yet, the swords did not feel cold at all. They felt warm but not as warm as his own body, _'a magical warmth for sure'_ he wanders as he unsummons the blades and stands up, gently stretching his wings in the room. After adding a few magic books, scrolls in his bag, he sends a message to his master Yen Sid, letting him know that he is set and ready.

Five minutes passes before a halo starts to envelop the mouse and his backpack. A flash of bright light blinds him and seconds later, he finds himself at the entrance of Traverse Town. The mouse looks around to see no one around, a gentle breeze cooling the town and it takes a few seconds for Mickey to realize that it is night time. He is about to proceed walking in the town as another flash blinds him followed by a few sighs.

" _Hey Mickey!_ " Oswald gently raises his voice as to not scream and wake up the residents sleeping. " _Glad to see you are up and well_." He hugs his brother.

" _Glad to see you too bro_." Mickey hugs back the rabbit tightly for a few seconds before doing the same with Donald, Ortensia and Goofy. " _And I see you came with some company_." The mouse smiles as he greets Daisy, Sylvia and Minnie.

" _Indeed, we are doing a team, the time is critical._ " Daisy's tone lower than usual.

" _Let's go home, and we will explain what happened while you were resting up_." Ortensia announces as she starts walking in the direction of their home.

" _Well Donald and I have our own home so we will be going our own way. See you tomorrow_." Goofy smiles and waves goodbye to the group; Donald follows suit a bit later. The rest of the group walks in silence through districts until they arrive in front of the mansion.

" _Welcome to our humble abode_." Ortensia says as she opens the front gate leading to the main entrance. Oswald bumps gently Mickey on the side.

" _Ok, that's amazing_." Mickey stares at the residence with wide eyes, taking as much details he could gather from the light emitted from the lamp posts on the street. " _This is quite a villa you got here_."

Oswald shrugs as they arrive at the front door, waiting for Ortensia to unlock the door. " _Thank you, brother, just you wait until tomorrow. I have a few things to show you around here_."

" _We are all quite exhausted and yet, we still have a lot of work on our hands_." Sylvia's voice is mixed of worries and exhaustion. Ortensia manages to unlock the door and everyone gets to be inside.

" _All right, I will prepare a few rooms right now_." Ortensia walks up the staircase.

" _We will help_." Minnie follows the cat with Daisy and Sylvia close behind her.

Oswald takes off his shoes and set them at the entrance and recite " _Mi casa es su casa_ " to his brother before beckoning his to follow him into the large living room. " _Want to drink something?_ "

" _No thank you, I think I'm good so far_." Mickey eye up the place in awe.

" _Alright, listen, I know it's late right now but I have to bring you up to speed. Shit is about to hit the fan_." Oswald's tone darkens and following the next thirty minutes, he explains the whole situation.

" _hmmm this is the worst. It means that we will have to patrol around and find where the gate is. If the army found it already, it will save us a lot of time and potential troubles_." Mickey judges. " _This is going to be a race against the clock._ "

" _Yeah. It will be…_ " Oswald looks at the sky through the window and notices something that he hasn't discerned before. The nightly sky is coated with a little taint of purple. "… _Mickey, come and take a look at the sky. Do you see a small shade of purple in the sky?_ "

The mouse takes a few seconds, staring into the sky before nodding. " _Yeah, it's slightly purple_." He shuts his eyes and remains silent. " _I cannot feel anything abnormal…in this part of town anyway but if it's the gate then we know it's relatively close_."

" _We will see tomorrow, I'm going to go to bed now, I'm about to collapse_." Oswald announces as after releasing a big yawn. " _I think your room should be ready now_." He says right as Ortensia walks in the room.

" _Yep, the rooms are ready. I'll show you yours Mickey_."

" _Thank you_." Mickey smiles " _Good night Oswald, sleep well_." He then follows Ortensia to his room and she, as well, heads to bed. Mickey strips naked and gets in the bed and after only a few minutes, sleep catches him.


End file.
